Dragon Ball Generations
by SlotT7
Summary: An alteration during Gohan's battle with Buu sets off a chain of events that pushes the next generation of warriors to the forefront of the story - whether they're ready or not - under the tutelage of the previous generation's remaining members.
1. Chapter 1

Dragon Ball Generations

Chapter 1

Deviations and Premise: The Battle with Majin Buu

Goku was beginning to panic. Minutes before, the outcome had seemed inevitable; Gohan was far superior to Buu and was showing a confidence and resolve he had never before seen in his eldest son. Time and time again Buu attacked, and time and time again, Gohan had effortlessly avoided his strikes and countered with devastating force. Goku had relaxed and begun to enjoy the show, but that was a distant memory now.

Gohan had made an all-too-familiar mistake. Just as he had when he battled Cell and showed the other Saiyans the heights to which their power could reach, he had become overconfident and allowed the fight to drag on. This time, he had stepped aside and allowed two children, Goten and Trunks, to fuse into the powerful but inexperienced Gotenks and reenter the battle, in an effort to humiliate Buu. Before he could realize his mistake, Buu had absorbed both Gotenks and Piccolo, Gohan's first master. Now, Buu's power dwarfed his own, and desperation was beginning to set in.

"I've got to get down there!" Goku screamed, "There's got to be something we can do! Come on!" But his cries fell on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry, Goku," The Old Kai gloomily replied, "This is a fight for the living, not the dead. Even if we could allow you to enter the battle, you're far too weak to make a difference."

"At least let me buy Gohan some time!" Goku fired back, "We've been down worse than this before, we can still win, but we've got to act NOW!"

"No, Goku. You used the last of your time on Earth to show off your strength to those boys. If Majin Buu is able to come here, you can fight, but you cannot help Gohan now."

"Besides," the Old Kai continued while staring into his crystal ball, "if a distraction is all you think he needs, it appears Yemma has already put that plan in motion."

Both Goku, the Supreme Kai, and Kibito shot their eyes to the Old Kai's ball, which had faded away from the battle to King Yemma's office, where a familiar figure was walking into the room.

"So, Vegeta, how 'bout it? You want another shot at Majin Buu?" The big red King bellowed to the short, flame haired Saiyan standing before him.

The Saiyan scowled. "Of course I do! And this time I won't leave any shred of him behind! Why are we still talking?!"

"Very well," Yemma returned, "this is your one day on Earth, normally reserved for the especially righteous, but we'll make an exception given the circumstances. Take care of this for us, and we'll see if we can't find a better place for you in the afterlife. Now go."

Vegeta appeared roughly one hundred miles from the battle and immediately began charging toward it, spurred on my rage and the chance at vengeance. He was almost to top speed when he heard a shrill voice in his head.

"Vegeta!" King Kai yelled, "Buu's much stronger than he was before, he's absorbed Piccolo and Gotenks! You don't have a chance! But your body's stronger now, if you can just stall him a little while, the boys should diffuse and Gohan might be able to finish him!"

Vegeta's face lit up with rage at the thought of his son being absorbed by that monster. "Stall him?! Gohan will not kill him! I'll erase all memory of him!"

A golden aura exploded around the Saiyan Prince as his hair turned blonde and his body lunged forward toward the battle.

Gohan was hanging on by a thread, unable to land a blow against the pink monster. Upon receiving a devastating blow to the head, he crashed into a boulder near Dende, who decided to make his gamble.

The young Guardian rushed over to Gohan and began administering his healing powers on the young warrior. "Hold on, Gohan. You've got to do this!" the Namek said in a panicked rush.

There was no time, however. The two looked up to see a laughing Buu in large shoulder pads smiling down from between them and the sun. "It's been fun, Earthling." The monster said with a snear, "But this is the end. Say goodbye!"

Through clenched teeth, Gohan stared defiantly into the blast as the sky went red, intent on meeting his doom head-on. Dende, however, shut his eyes and, not knowing how else to respond, continued to heal Gohan. The blast careened toward the duo, close enough to feel it's heat, until it was suddenly diverted from the side by a second blast.

Gohan turned his head to see, roughly one hundred yards away, a three-eyed man in a cape standing on a rock, his fingers and thumbs pressed together to form a diamond, staring at the monster.

"It's been a long time, Gohan. You've changed a lot. So has Buu." Tien said without breaking his stare at the monster.

"Ah, Tien Shinhan. Listen Tien, I hold you in high reguard, but your power is laughable. You shouldn't have come here." The monster said with a tinge of annoyance.

Tien didn't flinch. He could sense Vegeta's energy drawing closer, and Gohan's strength returning to him. The more time he could buy, the better their chances. If he could do some small bit of damage, all the better.

The three-eyed warrior extended his hands once more, focused the pink demon in the gap between his hands, and fired a silent Kikoho at the monster, who stood bolt upright and allowed it to wash over him with a smile. For a brief moment, Tien allowed himself to smile before quickly leaping from his standing place and landing next to Gohan and Dende as the rock he had been perched on exploded, following a blast from Buu.

"Too bad I don't carry a rice cooker with me," Tien said to no one in particular. "I've got a special technique for creatures like him. Hey, Buu! Your fights with me now!"

No sooner had the final word left his mouth than Tien's spirit left his body. At a speed he could never have imagined possible, Buu, no longer smiling, rushed forward and delivered a devastating punch to Tien's chest, just above his heart. Tien's body flew back as if shot from a cannon, his sternum completely shattered. Before his body was stopped by a distant mountainside, Tien Shinhan was dead.

Gohan was enraged. His power had hadn't quite returned, but he knew even if it was, he was no match for Buu. Tien had only been an acquaintance of his, but he had been an ally against Cell, an old friend of his father's, and had now saved his life. And Gohan, weak and beaten because of his own actions, had been forced to helplessly watch another man die in front of him. Just like his brother and, he had to assume, everyone else he cared for.

Gohan's power began to rise as Buu walked toward him, Dende keeping his hands on Gohan all the while. "Go ahead, power up. Show me the power of the son of the great Goku." The monster taunted as he continued to pace forward.

Gohan brushed Dende aside and sank into a fighting stance; Buu kept walking. "Healed or not, I've got to attack!" Gohan thought, and crouched to spring himself forward. Buu smiled menacingly and extended one arm forward with an open palm, readying a kill-shot.

Gohan wouldn't need to spring. Before he got the chance, a golden-tipped boot had planted firmly into the side of Buu's head, sending the monster careening through a series of rock formations. Standing in his place stood Vegeta, golden light surrounding him, lighting flashing across his body, and a halo above his head.

"Gohan," the Saiyan prince said calmly, "take cover, suppress your power, and finish healing. Then stay out of my way." In an explosion of light the Saiyan charged the distant crater where Buu had landed, his right fist cocked back in anticipation of arriving at his target.

Buu met Vegeta in the air and deftly slipped the punch, delivering a two-handed overhead slam to middle of Vegeta's back, sending him slamming into the ground. "I thought we were through with this. Stay down, Vegeta, I'm busy at the moment." The monster yelled from the sky. Vegeta, hurt but unbroken, climbed back to his feet, and charged again.

Gohan was watching from behind a distant rock formation, when he noticed Hercule and a dog hiding behind a separate rock formation. He also noticed the recklessness with which Vegeta was attacking Buu. Even by his standards, this was dangerous. Didn't he know he couldn't hold out against such a monster?

"Gohan!" King Kai's voice rang in the young Saiyan's head, "Vegeta's trying to buy enough time for Gotenks to diffuse so you can finish him! The body he has now is durable, but if he dies, he won't be able to pass on to the afterlife at all! As soon as you get the chance you've got to finish him!"

"But King Kai, I don't even know how long that'll be, and even without Gotenks he'll still have both boys AND Piccolo! He was so strong before, I'm not sure I can!" Gohan cried back, his voice teeming with doubt.

"Gohan don't start this again!" This time it was his father's voice that rang through his head. King Kai had established a connection between the two by acting as a mid-point. "Remember what you did against Cell. You don't even have to find new strength this time, you've already got it, just let it go!"

"But Dad, I-"Gohan was cut off by his father. "We don't have time for this!" Goku continued, "I know you're peaceful, but the Earth needs you! I'm not around anymore and you're a man now. No one else has the power, this is your responsibility!"

A sudden realization washed over Gohan. In the years since his battle with Cell he had all but completely given up training, focusing instead on studies and, more recently, Videl. He always reasoned that, should the time ever come where his power was needed, he would give all that he had, and along with his father's friends, they would be able to overcome any adversary. But here they stood, his allies absorbed or dead, his only remaining companion fighting alone, from the grave, against the greatest monster the universe had ever known. And here he stood, the strongest man to ever live, thanks in only very small part to his own actions, shaking with fear. Well, no more, he thought, and wordlessly blasted into the fray of the battle.

By the time Gohan reached the battle, Vegeta was in shreds. During the time it took Gohan to heal and overcome his fears, the Saiyan prince had become an object of amusement to Majin Buu. As Gohan flew through the air, he watched the now black-haired Vegeta drag himself up from the ground and out of the dust once more. His left arm appeared to be badly broken, and his mouth and nose were bleeding badly, but he nonetheless found the strength to charge again, slower than ever. For his part, Buu appeared to have remained untouched.

As Vegeta charged Buu head on, Gohan did the same from behind, but Buu deftly dodged the rush by contorting his abdomen into a wiry strand. Buu attempted to take advantage of his position by clubbing Gohan over the back of the head, but Gohan, back arched, fired a blast from both open hands to the side and diverted his body out of the way. Buu rushed, and began pummeling Gohan, but unlike their previous fight, Gohan was able to hold his own in this exchange.

"Vegeta might not have done any damage, but Buu's definitely slower for his trouble." Gohan thought, before throwing a hard uppercut that only just missed Buu's jaw thanks to his rubbery neck flopping backward parallel to his back. It was here, however that Vegeta reentered the battle, his hair once again sporting a blonde glow, by locking onto Buu's head and ripping with the full intention of separating it from his body.

Buu turned and ripped Vegeta free, throwing him to the ground once again, but opening his back to Gohan in the process. The young warrior didn't miss the opportunity, grabbing Buu from behind and driving him shoulder-first into the hard ground below. Gohan took his share of pain in the exchange, but smiled, knowing it was the only real blow they had landed on the monster since his last round of absorptions.

Gohan fired out and away from the crater, and watched as Buu slowly floated up from the rubble, a look of fierce anger on his face. The two locked eyes and Gohan prepared for another confrontation, but Buu had noticed Vegeta.

Vegeta was on his hands and knees, his hair back to its natural dark color, struggling to breathe. His body, however durable it might have been, was tattered and broken, and he doubted he had the strength to fly, let alone fight. Still, he forced himself to his feet, and stared down the monster with the long antennae.

Buu gave Gohan one last glance and bolted for Vegeta, his right hand drawn back and held flat. Vegeta, knowing he lacked the speed to dodge the attack or the strength to block it, dug in his heels, and faced the charging monster.

"Vegeta! Move!" Gohan screamed to no avail. He attempted to intercept Buu, but was far too far away to cover the distance. Vegeta was on his own.

Buu smiled as he drew close to his target, but Vegeta stared defiantly back.

"Come on!" He bellowed, and let out a mighty roar. He thrust his arms forward, palms together and intensified his shout just as Buu was about to make contact. A flood of golden light shot from his hands, completely engulfing the monster.

Before the smoke had cleared, Gohan felt Vegeta's energy completely disappear, along with his ravaged body. Buu never hit his target, but Vegeta was gone, this time, from all existence.

Buu wasted no time searching for Vegeta, he knew as well as Gohan that he was gone. Instead he shot higher into the sky and looked down at the last remaining Earthling warrior.

The monster raised an arm and a massive pink ball of glowing energy formed, shrouding the desert in it's light. Gohan settled into his stance, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to withstand such a blast. Buu broke into a maniacal laugh, and forced the ball slowly down toward the fighter.

"This ends now, human!" he screamed, and thrusted the orb down toward the earth.

Gohan caught the ball, but had to brace it against his chest, and felt his knees begin to shake as the ground gave beneath his feet. Buu met Gohan's gaze and broke into a fiendish laugh.

And then, with a pop, Buu's large shoulder pads were replaced by a familiar white cape.

"Now!" Gohan screamed, and with all his might, forced the ball back toward Buu. Buu tried to stop it, and yelled in terror, but could no longer match the power of the enraged warrior. Gohan felt the momentum change and then build behind his charge, and, for a moment, thought of mercy.

But he never lessened his push, instead pressing forward all the more, until the veins in his arms looked as if they might burst out from his skin. "I'm sorry" he said through gritted teeth, "I wish it didn't have to be like this. Maybe someday you'll come back as a better person, and things will be different. I'd like that."

With that, Gohan pushed the ball away from him and watched as Buu was pulled inside. Then, after bracing himself, gathered all his strength and gave a final battle cry:

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HA!"

With his father and the Kais looking on, Gohan saw his attack push Buu's orb with such force that it engulfed the monster's body, and watched as his enemy began to disintegrate inside it.

The ball fired high into the sky and out of the Earth's atmosphere, all the while trailed by the young hero's blast, and exploded into the sky, enveloping everything under it's gaze in a purple hue. Gohan waited until he was sure he could no longer sense Majin Buu's energy attempting to regenerate, then fell on his back, and breathed deeply.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Commissions and Paranoia

Kibito appeared on the Earth next to Gohan, already sitting upright again thanks to Dende's healing abilities, which he was still undergoing. "Good work, Gohan," he said quietly, "We're all very proud of you." And then left to survey the battlefield until he was satisfied Buu was permanently gone.

He returned to Gohan and Dende soon after. "It isn't proper for us to meddle so directly, but given the circumstances, the Supreme Kai saw fit that I help you put your planet back together any way I can. Can your dragon balls handle the damage?"

"It shouldn't be a problem" Dende began, "except for the ones who have died before. That's all of our warriors. We'll have to ask the Namekians if they'll let us use their dragon balls for them. In fact, he can probably revive everyone on Earth with one wish."

"Well then, let's go see them. I'm sure they'll help us." Kibito replied, extending an arm. In a flash, they were gone.

Gohan laid and rested in their absence, but wasn't alone for long. Within an hour, Gohan felt Tien's energy in the distance where his body had landed, and soon after, Goten, Trunks, Piccolo, and everyone Buu had eaten on the Lookout reappeared. The group gathered together and began to recount the events that had just taken place and celebrate, when Kibito and Dende reappeared.

Trunks and Goten, full of excitement, broke from their mothers' grasps and clamored toward the two, overwhelming them with questions. Bulma finally broke the silence when she worriedly asked, "Hey guys, where's Vegeta?"

It was here that Kibito interjected. "I'm afraid I have to deliver some upsetting news. Vegeta is gone. The body he lost in his battle with Buu was tied directly to his soul. When it was destroyed, so was he. There is nothing the Kais, nor anyone else, can do to bring him back. I am very sorry."

Bulma's heart dropped as she heard the news, and tears rolled down her face. Trunks, held tight in her arms, gaped in disbelief, struggling to comprehend the gravity of the Kibito's words.

"It is a true shame," he continued, "had Vegeta survived the battle, his acts of heroism surely would have earned him a place in Heaven. He died a hero, you should all be very proud.

"Furthermore, you should all know the Nameks were very hesitant to share their dragon balls with you, as Dende can attest. They are very grateful for what you did for them on Namek, and I assured them that Buu was a threat to the whole universe, so they agreed, but the dragon balls are very sacred to them, and they believe their debt has been paid. I would not count on them being so generous in the future.

"Now, some good news. If this battle has taught us anything, it is that we can no longer rely on our own strength to intervene in the affairs of this world. There are simply too many of you who surpass us already, and the Supreme Kai feels sure more will present themselves. As such, Goku has been appointed Guardian of Heaven, and will be given the utmost training to ensure that no threat from any universe is ever able to threaten Otherworld. He will not, however, be able to interfere with the dangers of this world. For that, we are relying on all of you.

"Gohan, Goten, Trunks, we're counting on the three of you most of all. I must return to the planet of the Kais. Goodbye for now, friends."

And in a flash, he was gone. The only sounds that broke the deafening silence were Bulma's sobs.

After a few moments, Piccolo spoke up. "That's enough for today, everyone go home and rest, and prepare to meet at the Lookout tomorrow morning. We have a lot to discuss, but I need to think first."

"Works for me," Tien responded, "I need to find Chiaotzu, anyway. I'll see you all in the morning." The two stoic warriors then flew away silently.

Everyone offered their condolences to Bulma and Trunks and went their own way. Chi Chi found one of Bulma's car capsules, and she, Krillin, 18, and Maron drove her home, consoling her all the way. Trunks and Goten flew behind in silence.

Piccolo floated alone at the Lookout the next day. He was quiet and deep in thought, but anxious for the others to arrive. The loss of Vegeta was affecting him more than he would've imagined, not because of their relationship, but for what it meant in the larger scheme.

They had never before permanently lost a fighter after a battle. Even when Goku had elected to stay dead after the battle with Cell, that was a strategic choice, and one that could always be reversed with the dragon balls. Now, however, their greatest warrior was being given responsibility that far surpassed the wellbeing of the Earth, and Vegeta, one of their strongest warriors, many times the strongest warrior in their arsenal, was permanently and completely gone.

The Earth was weak, of that there was no denial, and he intended to address it.

Before long, Krillin, 18, and Roshi appeared, with Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu close behind. Finally, Gohan, Videl, Goten, and Trunks appeared together.

"We left Mom behind with Bulma," Gohan told Piccolo, "try to take it easy on Trunks. He's barely said a word since Kibito dropped the news."

Piccolo nodded solemnly. "If everyone's here, let's get started." He began.

"As you're all aware, Goku and Vegeta are gone. If our history has taught us anything, it's that we attract trouble. Why that is, I'm not sure, but we were caught off guard when Majin Buu attacked, and we can't allow that to happen again."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Piccolo continued,

"As it stands, Gohan and me are the only two that are fully prepared for battle, and soon I'll be on the decline. Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, there's no nice way to say it; none of you are as strong as you were when we fought Cell. You're old, and you're not our future."

Krillin started to make a joke about Piccolo's age, but decided against it given the mood, and kept it to himself.

"Our future is in the sons of Goku and Vegeta. Two of them have never received proper training, and the other has shown a lack of dedication to his training in the past. That all changes today."

Krillin looked at Roshi and spoke up, "Well, how 'bout it, old timer? Think the Turtle School has room for a couple more students?"

Roshi looked shocked. "What? No, I'm far too old for that now. I'll help however I can, but those days are behind me."

"However," he continued, "if we're talking about restarting the Turtle School, I suppose I should choose a successor."

Yamcha and Krillin perked up and gave him their full attention. Roshi allowed the suspense to build for a moment, relishing the attention he hadn't received in years, before continuing.

"Yamcha, you're a fine warrior, you've made the Turtle School very proud. However, Krillin, you were my student first and for a longer time, and you've seen and done more in your career as a martial artist. If I can only choose one, it has to be you."

"Wow, thanks Master. I never really saw myself as a master, but I guess I don't have a choice. Sure, I'll do it!"

Yamcha smiled understandingly and patted Krillin on the shoulder. Krillin then looked at Goten and Trunks. "Well, what do you say guys?"

Goten, the spitting image of his father at that age, exploded at the opportunity. "Wow! You mean I get to go to the Turtle School just like my dad and train with you Mister Krillin and wear that big turtle shell and live on an island and win the tournament and…"

His words ran together after a while, but Krillin got the message. He then looked at Trunks, still standing quietly behind Goten. "Trunks?" Krillin asked.

"No."

The response caught everyone by surprise, as much for it's bluntness as for it's content. After a moment, Trunks continued.

"My dad wouldn't have wanted me to go to the same school Goku did and train with Goten, he would've wanted me to be different. And he would've wanted me to have a more serious trainer, too. No offense."

Krillin looked puzzled. "Um..none taken, I guess. But who then? I remember your future self saying Gohan trained him, I guess that worked out ok…"

"Absolutely not!" Piccolo burst into the conversation. "I don't know what that Gohan was like, but the last thing we need is our Gohan's slacker habits rubbing off on Trunks, too!"

"Well, you're about as serious as they come, does that mean you want to train him?" Krillin asked.

"No thanks." Piccolo said, regaining his composure. "My days of wiping noses and teaching kids the basics are behind me. Besides, I've got my own student." As he finished that thought, he stared directly at Gohan.

"Who, me?" Gohan asked, "But I'm already trained, you said so yourself. I don't need a master anymore."

"You need a master more than anyone!" Piccolo barked back. "I don't know if you can get any stronger or not, but you've got a lot to learn, and I am not going to sit around and watch you waste all that potential again!"

"Geeze, alright, alright. But that still doesn't help us find a master for Trunks." Gohan said.

Trunks looked around the group, unenthused, until Gohan spoke up again. "Hey Tien, you're a pretty serious guy. And you fought with me against Buu, just like Vegeta. Plus you're from the Crane School. You'd probably be perfect for him."

Tien and Trunks' eyes locked. Tien had known and fought with Trunks's future counterpart when this Trunks was a baby, but to Trunks, Tien was a complete stranger.

"I'll do it, if Trunks will have me." Tien deadpanned. "There's a lot I could teach you, Trunks, but I'll warn you: I'm very tough when it comes to training, and I don't joke around much. My version of the Crane School will be every bit as hard as the old one. You'd probably have more fun in the Turtle School with Goten."

Trunks never broke his stare. "My dad wanted me to get stronger, I don't care about having fun. I'll train with you."

Tien smiled and nodded, and Trunks nodded back.

Piccolo reentered the conversation, "Then it's settled. Goten is to train under Krillin, Trunks under Tien, and Gohan is with me. I don't care how you train them or if you let them visit their families, but this isn't a hobby. These boys are responsible for the future of this world, they have to be completely committed to that cause. Understand that, boys.

"The next World Martial Arts Tournament is in three years; that should be plenty of time for you two to make your marks on them. We'll use the tournament to gauge how far we've come."

As everyone began to disperse, Krillin caught up with Yamcha. "Hey man, what are you gonna do? I saw you perk up when Roshi mentioned picking a replacement. Did you really want the job?"

"Well, to be honest, yeah. It would've been a great honor, but I get it. You were the obvious choice. Just the same, hearing all you guys talk about starting the schools back up and going to the tournament has me thinking. Maybe I'll find some students of my own."

"That'd be great, man! I bet you'll be a great master. I can't wait to see you at the tournament."

By the time their conversation had ended, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Trunks were already halfway to the camp where Tien had been training, and Videl was yelling at Piccolo for refusing to train her, too.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Education of Prodigies

Videl was struggling mightily with Chi Chi and Bulma. This didn't surprise her; after all, her task was to explain to two widows that their sons had effectively been kidnapped to live lives as warriors, the same career path that had left their husbands dead. Chi Chi was taking it fairly well, considering the circumstances, probably because this had happened to her before, and under far more dire conditions when Gohan was literally kidnapped by Piccolo. She was angry, but seemed downright jolly next to Bulma.

For her part, Videl was afraid Bulma might lose her mind. Still reeling from Vegeta's death, the news that Trunks was leaving in and of itself would have been enough for her to explode. The news that he was training with Tien, who Bulma barely knew and certainly didn't know where to find, only served to make it worse. Had he been assigned to Krillin, Bulma would have known exactly where to find him, and she certainly would have felt more comfortable with Krillin mentoring him. After all, she'd known him since he was a boy, traveled to Namek with him, and he was a family man now. The only family Tien had was Chiaotzu, and frankly, she always found him more than a little creepy.

"What do you mean he's already gone?!" Bulma screamed, "I didn't say he could go anywhere! You all sneak him off to the Lookout and then just have him run off to some desert with that three-eyed freak and his clown friend? What, you didn't think he should pack a bag first? Bring a toothbrush? Tell his widowed mother goodbye?!"

Videl, unsure of how to handle the situation, tried to explain how important Trunks was to the world, but quickly realized that was a lost cause. In the end, she apologized, promised to make sure Trunks came to visit, and flew away, leaving the widows of two of the Earth's greatest warriors to console one another.

Back on the Lookout, Videl found Piccolo and reported that she had delivered the news. The big Namek had his cape and turban off, and was breathing deeply, as was Gohan, who had broken into a visible sweat. The two were already midway through a sparring session.

"Look, that wasn't any fun, now train me, too! A deal's a deal." Videl demanded. Piccolo stood up out of his stance and turned to face her.

"I didn't say I'd train you, I said you'd get training." Piccolo said, clearly annoyed at having his training stopped. "You can start by flying down and climbing the tower back up. There's a cat at the top named Korin, he'll get you started. When he sends you up here, then we'll talk.

"You've gotta be kidding!" she yelled back, "The whole point of this was so I could train with Gohan! Now you're sending me to a cat?!"

"Every human warrior in the last 300 years has trained with Korin! Goku, too! Now you think you're too good for him?!" Piccolo barked.

Videl was annoyed, but after a moment of awkward silence gave an "Ugh. Fine." And flew back down to the earth to begin her climb.

"Bye, Videl!" Gohan yelled as she turned to leave, but he received no response.

Back at Kame house, Krillin and Goten had separated themselves from the frequently overcrowded confines of Roshi's home, both now wearing large turtle shells on their backs. Krillin had invited 18 to come and help with the training, but, saying she didn't trust Roshi as a babysitter, she had elected to stay behind. Given her lack of formal training, Krillin doubted she would've been too much help anyway.

"Master Krillin," Goten said, looking up at his only-slightly taller master "are you gonna teach me a bunch of moves now?"

"Master?" Krillin said, half surprised, "You don't really have to call me that, you know."

"But you are my master." Goten said in a confused tone.

"I guess you're right. Anyway, no, I'm not going to teach you very many moves. Not right away at least." Krillin watched Goten's face turn to a look of disappointment.

He continued, "Look Goten, you're Goku's son, and I've seen you in action enough to know that you're just like him. You're a natural, you'll pick up on all that stuff on your own, just like he did. What I can teach you is how to train and how to use your abilities the right way. From what I know, you've never really been taught any of that before."

Goten's excited look returned to his face, so Krillin felt the timing was right to begin the training.

"Alright then, lets see how fast you can run a lap around the island. And no Super Saiyan transformations."

Goten fired away, and in a matter of seconds, was standing in front of Krillin again, still excited, and with no signs of fatigue.

"Wow, that was great, Goten!" Krillin exclaimed, "But I think that shell's a little too light to do it's job on you. Guess we better go see if Piccolo will make us a heavier one."

With that, the two exploded into the sky to visit a short-tempered alien, to ask for a heavy turtle shell.

Tien and Trunks were also alone, sitting cross-legged across from one another atop a small plateau. Tien had left Chiaotzu at the camp, assigning him the job of food preparation, laundry, and the various camp tasks Chiaotzu had come to enjoy in the years since Tien had grown too strong for him to be of use as a training partner.

Trunks was growing irritated. All three of Tien's eyes were closed, and he was perfectly still. Finally, Trunks could take it no more.

"Hey, Tien. I didn't come here to take a nap, how 'bout you wake up and train me." He said impudently.

"First of all, it's Master Tien," the triclops replied without opening any of his eyes, "and you're going to need to speak with a little more respect going forward. I'll let it slide this time."

Trunks scrunched his face in irritation as Tien continued, now with eyes open, "And as I told you, you have to learn to meditate. This is training.

"I know your father trained you. I'm sure you've spent more than your share of time in the gravity chamber, and I've heard about your battles with Goten and Buu. I'm sure they were quite impressive.

"That said, as great of a warrior as your father was, he had many weaknesses. First and foremost, he refused to accept advice. He was a grinder, maybe the hardest worker I've ever known; no one respects that more than me. But if he would've been willing to listen to Goku and your future counterpart, he could've been even greater."

"Don't talk about my father!" Trunks yelled, jumping to his feet. "You didn't know him!"

"Oh, I knew him." Tien said calmly. "I watched him kill one of his own soldiers after I dropped it at his feet. I heard him laugh when my best friend died, and again just before I did. I was there when he let Cell reach his final form, after you and me and Piccolo had given everything we had to stop that monster.

"But I was watching when he gave his life battling Freeza, too. When Cell attacked you after his revival, I watched Vegeta charge him alone. When we were all too weak to save Gohan, he was the one who made Cell flinch. And when he gave his life against Buu, for the second time, he knew it was for good.

"I'm not pretending your father and I were friends. For a long time, I hated him, and I never truly trusted him. He could be cruel, and he was always arrogant. But I did know him, and in the end, I completely respected him."

Trunks sat back down, clearly taken aback by Tien's soliloquy on his father. Tien kept going, "You're not your father, Trunks. Truthfully, you're not so different from me when I was young. You've lost a parent; I barely knew mine. You're arrogant and proud and incredibly talented. You can be better than me, Trunks. Even greater than your father, too. But you've got to let me help you."

Trunks sat back down, closed his eyes, and began focusing as Tien had taught him. Tien returned to his meditation as well, satisfied that his point had been made.

While Trunks and Tien were meditating quietly atop the plateau, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Goten, and Videl were sweating profusely, already hard at work. Somewhere in the world, Yamcha was scouring cities and villages, not entirely sure what he was looking for. Bulma and Chi Chi were coming to terms with their circumstances, and the three years leading up to the tournament began to trickle away.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Three Masters

 _This chapter takes place at the conclusion of the three years of training, on the precipice of the 26_ _th_ _World Martial Arts Tournament._

As usual, and by design, Piccolo was alone. He had arrived to the tournament grounds especially early, registered under his pseudonym of choice, and chosen a hiding place where he could monitor the check-in station without being detected.

The first to arrive, to his surprise, was Yamcha. He had allowed his hair to grow long for the first time in years, and had pulled it back into a ponytail that ran roughly halfway down his back. He had begun to show his age slightly, and wore a pelt vest apparently made from a wolf or an especially fine-haired dog. At his side stood a tall young man, with a slightly darker complexion than Yamcha, who also sported a long, dark ponytail, though his was braided. The young man wore large round shoulder pads, cut high, revealing his muscled torso.

The two, believing they were the first to arrive, quickly registered the young man for the tournament and went on their way, presumably to relax and wait for the others.

The next group to arrive was comprised of Gohan, Videl, Chi Chi, and Bulma. Chi Chi and Bulma had aged significantly, likely a result of the stress and worry they had undergone, without the benefit of energy control that seemed to slow the aging process in their fellow humans. Gohan was wearing street clothes and glasses, though they did little to conceal his imposing physique. Videl, for her part, looked more or less the same, though slightly older and with a very serious expression.

Gohan and Videl approached the registration table, though only Videl registered for the tournament. The group then left and found a place to sit.

Piccolo and Gohan had argued over Gohan's participation at length during their training, with Gohan having no interest in fighting and Piccolo insisting on it. Gohan had eventually won by suggesting that, given his power increase from the Old Kai, he would have an unfair advantage that would cause him to eliminate the other fighters Piccolo wanted to evaluate.

Next came Tien Shinhan and Trunks. Both were dressed identically: black boots with gold cuffs, white pants, formfitting blue shirts under white capes draped over their left shoulders, and blue wrist cuffs. The backs of their capes bore Crane School kanjis. Piccolo was perplexed as to what would've caused Tien, a social pariah for most of his adult life, to become so obsessed with fashion uniformity, but kept it to himself.

Tien looked more or less the same, only slightly older, but Trunks' appearance was the most striking thus far. He was eleven years old now, roughly the age his future counterpart had told them he had been when his master, Gohan, died, and the same age this Gohan had been when he defeated Cell. Physically, he strongly resembled Gohan at that age, though his features remained distinct from all other Saiyans. He stood almost up to Tien's chin, and his hair was roughly the same length it had been before, though he now brushed it loosely to his left.

Both bore the calm, confident look Tien had carried for most of his life. They registered Trunks for the tournament, and found Gohan's group, where Bulma ran and met them. Piccolo's acute hearing allowed him to gather that Tien had allowed Trunks only brief and infrequent visits with his mother, much to his approval. He also heard Tien mention that he looked forward to Chiaotzu arriving, having apparently sent him to Kame House while he and Trunks made final preparations.

Finally, with only an hour left in the registration window, true to Turtle School tradition, the entire inhabitants of Kame House appeared. Krillin, Goten, 18, Maron, Roshi, Turtle, Puar, Chiaotzu, and Oolong all came as one large group.

Krillin had once again shaved his head, a reassuring sign to Piccolo who took it to mean he was serious about martial arts again, but had grown a goatee not unlike Roshi's, though shorter and black, as his hair had been when he allowed it to grow. Goten had allowed his wild hair to grow longer and shaggier, similar to Gohan when the androids had first arrived. He wore an orange gi identical to the one his father and the other Turtle School students had worn for so many years.

More noticeably, though, was his stature. He was thin but muscular, and almost a full head taller than his master, at only ten years old. The part of Piccolo that had been Kami remembered his father looking almost identical to this for a brief time during his training for the 23rd tournament on the Lookout, though Goku had been significantly older. Piccolo smiled at the irony of one part of himself training a child to defeat another part of himself, and watched as Chi Chi noticed the group, and ran to greet Goten.

The Turtle School group soon found the rest of their friends, and everyone excitedly exchanged pleasantries. No one was more excited than Goten was to reunite with Trunks, and he immediately sought him out.

"Whoa Trunks, you look so different! I bet you're a lot stronger, too!" Goten said excitedly, placing his hands on Trunks's shoulders. He had clearly looked forward to seeing his old friend for quite some time.

Trunks stepped forward toward his friend and smiled, but remained reserved. He took note that, despite their age difference, Goten was now slightly taller than him. "I bet you are too, Goten. It's really good to see you again." When he spoke, everyone but Bulma and Tien turned their attention to him. While Goten's voice had deepened only slightly, Trunk's had now completely dropped, causing him to sound almost identical to his future counterpart.

Any further interaction was interrupted when Yamcha, now tailed by four young men, came walking up. The four young men were all roughly the same size, about half a head shorter than Yamcha, and appeared to be in their mid-teens. They all wore furry vests similar to Yamcha's but their outfits varied sharply beyond that. "Hey guys!" He began, "I've got some people for you to meet!"

Yamcha then went one by one around the group. The first he introduced was a barrel-chested boy with a brownish-red complexion and long jet-black hair he had braided into a ponytail, named Gorra. Then came a bald boy with incense marks on his forehead identical to Krillin's named Naken. The third boy had burred dark hair, and was named Nein Shinhan. The last boy had long, bushy, dark hair that ran the length of his back, and was named Hammur.

"So," Krillin asked, "I guess these are your students?"

"Yup!" Yamcha replied proudly, "And we're the Wolf School!"

"So you'll all be fighting then?" Gohan asked the boys.

"Nope! Just one of them." Yamcha interjected, "But don't ask which one, we're gonna keep that quiet for now."

Piccolo, still listening from his hiding place, rolled his eyes and wondered how long Yamcha thought this ruse could last before the others figured it out. He then walked inside to the contestant's area and awaited the preliminaries.

The participants were filtered away from the spectators and sent into the stadium concealed from the audience, who were to wait for the quarterfinals on the main stage. Those who had registered as masters, Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Gohan, were informed that, if their students reached the quarterfinals, they would be allowed inside the walls to sit around the perimeter of the arena, where they could effectively coach their fighters.

Gohan, confident in Videl's ability to reach the quarterfinals, went to sit with his mother and the others who awaited the quarterfinals, while the participants filed into the restricted area. Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin flew to a place where they could see the preliminaries, found a seat, and watched the fighters file into a line in front of a heavily reinforced punching machine.

Krillin grinned at the memory of Vegeta obliterating the punching machine at the last tournament, as well as the futility of the new reinforcements, while Tien watched Yamcha's students lingering behind, eventually taking their places as the last participants in line.

"So," Yamcha began, turning to face the others, "How'd the training go? What all did you do, Krillin?"

"Well, I don't want to give all my secrets away" Krillin said, half-jokingly, "but to be honest, I didn't have to do much. I showed him the basics and then just kinda coached him through his training. I figure if he's anything like Goku, all the moves and techniques are just going to come naturally to him. And believe me, he's a lot like Goku. I just wanted to make him as strong and well prepared as I possibly could.

"I tell ya, this kid is incredible. Every time I look at him I see Goku. Whatever Goku had that let him just latch onto every thing that came by him, he sure passed it on to Goten. All I've gotta do is point him in the right direction, and he takes care of the rest. I really think I've found my calling as a master, you guys.

"What about you, Tien? How'd it go with Trunks?"

Tien turned his full attention to his fellow masters. "You're gonna laugh, but guess I went the total opposite direction with Trunks. Poor kid was really affected when Vegeta died. It's like he believes it's his duty to make sure he lives up to that legacy; I can't stop him from working out. He's always working, getting stronger on his own all the time. I pushed myself to the limit for years, but even in my prime I'm not sure I could've kept up with this kid. I spend most of my time getting him to relax and see the other side of martial arts. We meditate a lot, work on a lot of techniques and strategies, that kind of thing. He doesn't always see the value in it, but he's a much more well-rounded fighter today than his father ever was.

"Honestly, he wasn't real happy with my methods at first, and I wasn't crazy about his attitude, either. Too much Vegeta in him I guess. But once we started trusting each other, it's been incredible. You guys are great friends and all, but the only family I ever really had was Chiaotzu. I know I'll never be a father to him, but he's a son to me, now.

"How 'bout you, Yamcha? Where'd you even find those kids?"

"Well, to be honest, I had a completely different idea than either of you guys." Yamcha said with a smile. "Seeing as you guys took all the Super Saiyans, I had to go out and find them myself, so I started back in my home village. When I was growing up, I was in a martial arts school there called the Wolf School. Not nearly as prestigious as the Turtle or Crane schools, but it was a good place to start. That's where I learned my Wolf Fang Fist.

"Anyway, it's gone now, but a lot of its teachings are still getting passed down in the village. That's where I found Hammur. He's hoping to be the Protector of the village someday, and he's one of the strongest in the village already, but still young enough to be trained. When I showed him what I could do, he jumped at the chance to come train with me. That's how I convinced all of them, actually."

"Oh look, the great Yamcha showing off all over the world." Krillin said teasingly before Yamcha continued.

"Yeah, well. I started trying to think of other places where I might find strong humans, so naturally I thought of you guys. I remembered you guys both saying you were from the East and I just kinda flew around until I found people who either remembered you from when you were young or had some energy I could sense and went from there.

"Naken is from your old temple, Krillin. One of the most talented kids they had, so I had to pick him. And Nein is from your clan, Tien."

Tien looked at him skeptically, "The Shinhan clan is a three-eyed clan, Yamcha. I don't remember much about it, but I think I'd remember that. That boy only has two eyes."

Yamcha laughed before answering, "That's what I said too! Nein told me the clan got pretty small and a lot of people started looking outside it for spouses. Nein's dad was one of those people, so he's really only half-Shinhan. Apparently that third eye of yours is recessive, barely any of the young people in the clan have one now. Just the old timers like you."

Tien was shocked, but allowed the Yamcha to continue uninterrupted.

"The last one, Gorra, is from the tribe at the bottom of Korin's Tower. Remember Upa and Bora, Krillin?" Krillin nodded. "Well, Gorra is Upa's younger cousin; Bora's brother's son, I think. He's third in line, after Bora and Upa, to be the Chief of the tribe, since his dad died a few years back. Finding him was a shot in the dark, and he was really, really raw at first, but he's as talented as any of them, and he catches on fast.

"But the crazy thing was the strongest kid I found was too young to train! I sensed a huge energy when I was flying over this poor little village in the desert, but when I went down to check it out, the kid was barely walking! We're gonna have to get our hands on him in a few years.

"Anyway, since you guys were getting sappy, I guess I will, too. I left home when I was young, too hot headed and cocky I guess. Then I met all you guys and that was great for a long time, but then all those years after we fought Cell, it was just kinda me and Puar. Goku was dead, you were starting a family, Krillin, I don't even know where you were, Tien, but you were still training…what I'm trying to say is these guys all come from rough backgrounds, too. Now we're our own family. I think that's why I got so many of them. I just couldn't stop!"

Krillin finally spoke up, "That's real great for you man, but you still didn't tell us how you trained them!"

"Oh yeah," he replied, "Like I said, my guys are talented for humans, and they've gotten a lot stronger, but they're not prodigies like yours. I was honest with them, there's people out there in the universe that they just aren't going to be able to keep up with. Nobody knows that like I do.

"Anyway, I figured the only chance these guys would have if they ever had to face the kinds of things we did was through teamwork and strategy, so everything we do is based on that. We work on formations, synchronized attacks, coordinating with each other's skills, all that kind of stuff. I get to play the super villain, so that part's pretty fun. Of course, none of that translates really well into a tournament format, so we had to come up with something special for this."

"Wow, that's great Yamcha! Maybe after Goten and Trunks graduate we can come help you with them!" Krillin said excitedly.

"That'd be awesome!" Yamcha responded, "You guys know a ton of techniques they could really use. I'd appreciate the help."

Tien had been watching participant after participant walk up and register puny numbers on the punching machine while he listened to the conversation. "Hey, Yamcha," he said, the skeptical look returning to his face, "if you only registered one fighter, how'd all four of them get in there, anyway?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Public Display

Videl was waiting in line, piecing together the tournament in her head. There were eight spots available in the publicly viewed quarterfinals, one of which was guaranteed to her father, as the reigning champion. That left seven to be determined by the results of the punching machine, a method she felt was unrepresentative of a martial artist's skills, but one that should put all the strongest competitors into the Quarterfinals.

Looking around, she counted up the open seven spots. She, Trunks, Goten, and Piccolo would make four. Yamcha's fighter, whoever he was, was unproven, but was probably a safe bet to beat the untrained Earthlings, so he made five. That left two fighters who would advance to the quarterfinals and effectively serve as passes to the semi-finals, as well as her father, who probably wouldn't be much of a threat anymore, either.

Unfortunately, the seeding for the tournament portion is done randomly, so there could be no strategizing for an advantageous seed. The best she could do, as the first of the serious challengers to punch, was to register a high enough score to outpace any regular people behind her. Not much of a challenge.

Her prediction was correct. Videl succeeded in registering a score of 200 on the machine, roughly twice what the average participant was able to muster but not so high as to alert the judges, and then sat down on a bench against the front wall to survey her competition. Next came Piccolo, who nonchalantly tapped in a 230 and walked out of the hidden arena and into the fighter's lounge. Trunks and Goten came next, scoring 202 and 204, respectively, followed by some sarcastic gloating from Goten. Three large, imposing strangers registered in the 130s, safely ahead of most of their competition but woefully behind Z Fighters.

As the line began to thin toward the end, Videl watched the Wolf School students speak to an official and then exit the arena out the back down a hallway. Curious, she got up to follow them, but was stopped by an official.

"Sorry, ma'am." He said, "Once you've registered your score, you can't go out back. We can't have people trying to sneak second attempts at the machine."

Videl was irritated, but she complied and returned to the bench. Momentarily, a tall young man entered the room wearing large bulky shoulder pads.

"Your name, sir?" The official asked the young man.

"Okami." The young man replied, and then stepped to the machine.

Videl watched as, with a flick of his wrist, he registered an 800 on the machine, followed by a grimace on his face as though he'd made a mistake. The officials looked at one another in confusion.

"Sorry," Okami told the official in a deep, almost echoing voice, "I can try again if you'd like."

"Yes, please, something must be wrong. Just let us recalibrate the machine and we'll try you again."

"Please hurry." Okami said with a worried look on his face.

After about five minutes the officials cleared Okami for another attempt, which he took very, very gently. His registered score of 140, barely enough to qualify, caused him to grimace again, but it satisfied the judges who passed him on to the next round. Hurriedly he left the room.

Videl followed him as far as the men's restroom, fairly certain she had figured this stranger out. She returned to the hidden arena where she found the others, including Piccolo and her father, awaiting the seeding draw. The others, it seemed, hadn't paid any attention to Okami.

"Uh oh," Yamcha said to the other masters, "I'd better get down there. I don't think Okami's gonna make it back in time for the draw."

Krillin and Tien looked at each other knowingly. As Yamcha got up to leave, Krillin couldn't resist, and called after him:

"Hey Yamcha," he said with a sly smile, "we know what you did."

Tien chimed in, "Isn't that cheating Yamcha? All the matches are supposed to be one-on-one."

"You're one to talk!" Yamcha shot back, recalling Tien's failed strategy against Goku the last time they had all fought in the tournament. "Besides, Okami is one person. He's just not around that much."

Yamcha then left and entered the hidden arena through the front door. When confronted by an official, he informed him he was on the Master List and his fighter was having too much trouble in the bathroom to make it. Not the most creative alibi, but enough to satisfy the ever-incompetent tournament officials.

The Tournament Announcer entered the room, and began speaking loudly to the group.

"Thank you all for participating!" He began, "Our Quarterfinalists for the 26th World Martial Arts Tournament are the Defending Champion Hercule, Ma Junior, Goten, Trunks, Videl, Okami, Kiba, and Draper. As defending champion, Hercule will automatically receive the 8 seed. From there we will draw in the aforementioned order, as determined by your scores in the Preliminaries. Ma Junior, you'll be first."

Piccolo walked to the front and reached into the bucket, pulling out a number 7 ball. Hercule's jaw dropped, and Piccolo quietly left the room. Hercule immediately regretted demanding the rule change that guaranteed him the 8 spot, so as to build suspense for the defending champion's fights.

"And right off the bat, we have a match set!" The Announcer boomed, "Ma Junior vs. Hercule will conclude the first round! Up next is Goten!"

Next Goten stepped forward and drew a number five ball. "Crap!" He said where only Trunks could hear, "I'm on Piccolo's side of the bracket."

"So?" Trunks said, cutting his eyes toward Goten but facing forward.

"So I wanna make sure I get a rematch with you. I wanted to be on the left side of the bracket where there's more room. Now unless you draw a six I'll have to go through Piccolo to get it.

"Next is Trunks!" The Announcer declared, in a voice far too excited for the relatively mundane task at hand.

Trunks reached in and pulled out a number 4 ball.

"No!" Goten exclaimed, loud enough for the other fighters to turn their attention to him this time.

"Don't worry about it." Trunks said upon returning. "I won't have any trouble fighting through my side. Just beat Piccolo and I'll see you in the finals."

"You don't understand!" Goten replied, "Master Krillin said I'm not allowed to turn Super Saiyan during the tournament! And Piccolo's been training with Gohan, I don't think I can beat him!"

"Oh yeah?" Trunks said, breaking a smile, "Master Tien told me the same thing, but I really don't think I'll need to. Besides, those rules always seem to get thrown out the window sooner or later, anyway."

Goten was taken aback. Was Trunks really strong enough to defeat Piccolo, even without becoming a Super Saiyan?

"Next is Videl!" The Announcer yelled.

Videl stepped forward and drew a 1 ball, placing her in the open bracket on Trunks's side.

"Next is Okami! Representing Okami is his master, Yamcha. Good to see you again, Yamcha!" the Announcer said gleefully.

"Thanks man, you too. Hopefully my student will have better luck than I did at this thing." Yamcha said with a laugh, before reaching in and drawing the 2 ball.

Videl's eyes widened slightly when she saw the result. "We have our next matchup! Our tournament will begin with Videl vs. Okami! Next up is Kiba!" The Announcer yelled again.

A brown-skinned young man stepped forward and drew the 3 ball. "That means our second match will be between Kiba and Trunks! And that leaves Draper vs. Goten in our third match! I'll see you all in the main arena; our first match starts in one hour!" The Announcer put some extra emphasis on that last word, and then left the hidden arena.

Gohan had seated himself directly between Chi Chi and Bulma. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two had grown extremely close over the last few years, bonding over their shared plight as widows with renegade sons who rarely visited. Chi Chi clearly had the more preferable circumstances, of course. After all, her husband was dead, but he was the Guardian of the Heaven, and she fully intended to see him again. Her youngest son was in training, but she knew exactly where to find him, she trusted his master, and with 18, he even had a mother figure. She also had Gohan, who despite juggling his studies, his girlfriend, and his demanding trainer, still found time to visit his poor mother as much as possible.

Bulma's situation was decidedly worse. Her husband wasn't just dead, he was irrevocably and completely gone, never to be seen again. No dragon balls or Kais or afterlife possibilities were going to change that. Additionally, she had only one son, and he was living a nomadic life of combat with a three-eyed man with a propensity for suicide missions, and his child-sized clown friend with telekinetic powers.

Still, Bulma and Chi Chi saw themselves as partners in a world that had been equally cruel to them. This was partially a product of personality: where Chi Chi was a bit of a fatalist who often saw her circumstances as worse than they actually were, Bulma didn't particularly care for being a victim. She was proud of Vegeta for the way he died, and proud that her son worked so hard to emulate him. Additionally, she still had her parents, and there was Gohan, who Bulma had all but adopted as her own. Even Videl, who Chi Chi still had a tinge of distrust for, was a darling in Bulma's eyes.

Gohan was worried, however, about what the tournament might do to them, given their violent reactions the last time Goten and Trunks met in the tournament. That was in significantly less stressful times; any meeting between their sons this time could cause a dangerous schism between them.

Whatever happened, Gohan was sure he didn't want to be part of it, so he had taken precautions. He would sit between them during the youth tournament and try to make them both happy, then go down to the arena once the real fighting started under the guise of being Videl's master. He had given 18 strict instructions to separate the two, forcibly if necessary, if at any point they got out of hand.

As it turned out, the two were already in fine spirits, simply as a result of being reunited with their friends. He tried to pass the time by projecting the tournament with Roshi, the only one present in the stands capable of having an in-depth conversation about martial arts with, save maybe his disinterested mother.

"What do you think, Master Roshi?" He'd say, "Think Videl's got a chance?"

"Oh I certainly hope so!" The old master would reply, "Sure wouldn't mind seeing her jump around in the title belt!"

Suffice it to say, it was going poorly. At least the tournament was about to start.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!" The Announcer boomed through the packed stadium, reveling in the spotlight in his patented manner.

"Guess that's my cue, see you guys after the tournament!" Gohan said as he flew down toward the ring.

"Welcome to the 26th World Martial Arts Tournament! Let's hear it for your Quarterfinalists!" The Announcer continued, inciting the crowd into a frenzy as the tournament matchups flashed onto the stadium jumbotron.

"Nothing too interesting in the first round." Roshi said, "I wonder if Yamcha's student is one of these guys we don't recognize."

"For our first matchup we have Videl vs. Okami!" The Announcer continued, "Videl is the daughter of our reigning champion Hercule! She is a former Youth Tournament champion, last year reached the quarterfinals, and is a student of last year's Quarterfinalist Son Gohan! Let's hear it for Videl!

"Okami is a first-time fighter from the newly revived Wolf School, and a student of three-time Quarterfinalist Yamcha! Let's hear it for Okami!"

As the crowd around them erupted in anticipation of the first matchup, Chi Chi, Bulma and the others looked at each other in surprise.

"Hey, that's not one of Yamcha's students! No fair!" Bulma exclaimed upon seeing Okami's picture on the big board, clearly allowing her bias for Videl to shine through.

Roshi sat stoically and examined the young fighter through his signature red sunglasses, letting out only a "Hmmmmm" sound.

By the time Gohan reached Videl she was already preparing to step into the ring, though Okami was nowhere to be found. He started to offer the pre-fight advice he had prepared.

"Don't." She said, and stepped onto the platform.

Videl tried to recount everything she knew. She remembered all her training with Korin and Popo, and all the moves she had perfected in the little bit of sparring she had been allowed to do against Gohan when, after finally – finally – proving herself to Piccolo, he decided she would be useful in allowing him to evaluate Gohan from an outside perspective.

She knew Okami was fighting on a time limit – probably, she couldn't be sure of that. And given the energy she felt him put out when he hit the punching machine too hard the first time, it was a safe bet that he was bringing some serious power with him. She'd have to fight conservatively, bide her time, and wait for him to make a mistake.

Yamcha stepped out of the entrance and approached the Announcer. "Just finishing up his pre-fight ritual. He'll be out in just a second." He said.

Sure enough, in a matter of moments, Okami stepped out of the entrance and onto the arena floor.

The Announcer performed a stylish pirouette and pointed at the sky as he yelled, "Let the 26th World Martial Arts Tournament…BEGIN!"

On his mark, Okami exploded out of his stance and made a ferocious dash directly at Videl, who was already sunk into a defensive stance. The tournament was underway.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Flexing and Measuring

"I know what he did!" Oolong exclaimed, jumping from his seat and pointing to the arena. "I'd know those shoulder pads anywhere!"

"That's right!" Bulma said, mimicking Oolong's position, "Yamcha didn't enter one of his students, he entered TWO of them! That CHEATER!"

Videl, despite fully expecting an aggressive attack from Okami, was caught off guard by the speed at which he was moving. Before she knew it, he was right in front of her and it was all she could do to jump out of the way and dodge his initial attack, a forearm shiver aimed directly at her collarbone.

Okami turned and gave chase with Videl electing to dodge his blows rather than block them, given the force at which the blows were coming. Feeling her back approaching the arena and needing space to flee, she fired a blast between their feet and used the momentum to carry her up into the air as Okami disappeared into the dust.

"Not getting us this time." The Announcer said to himself, "Already got the repairmen on standby."

Suspended in the air, Videl frantically tried to develop a strategy. Okami was much faster than her, but she'd been able to dodge his blows so far by anticipating them, just as Mr. Popo had taught her. He was telegraphing his moves, and not reacting to her maneuvers, so she had to assume he wasn't particularly proficient in sensing out his opponents movements.

That was as far as she got, as Okami exploded out of the smoke and up towards her, dead set on her again, his long hair snaking behind him as he flew. Videl responded by quickly firing a few weak blasts around him to divert his flight path, and descending back down to the ground on the opposite corner of the arena, where she set her feet and drew her hands back to her right hip.

Gohan was beside himself. He was having no trouble following Okami's movements, but knew that his speed must be giving Videl fits. More troubling, though was the energy he was sensing from the fighter. It was varying radically from one attack to the next, sometimes only bringing enough force to brush Videl backwards, others carrying enough to kill her on contact, and many falling wildly in the median.

He doubted very seriously Yamcha would enter a fighter with the intention of causing serious damage, and from what he was picking up from Okami, it seemed he was genuinely trying to restrain himself, but, Gohan surmised, at the aggressive pace he was attacking, Okami simply was not in control of his own power.

Back in the Master's area, Tien approached Yamcha, who was watching the match worriedly. "Yamcha," he began slowly, "tell me you didn't. Tell me you didn't put in a fighter who can't control himself. That girl's life is on the line!"

"He's never had this problem before, I don't know what's going on!" Yamcha exclaimed before continuing, this time to himself, "Come on, Okami, get it under control and get this fight over with!"

Okami spun down out of the sky and set his sights on Videl again, barreling down on her with his right fist drawn back and a look of desperation on his face.

Videl crouched and began to focus her energy. "Ka-Me-…" she began.

Okami saw it coming, but elected to press on, deciding to try to reach her before she could gather enough energy for the blast. He still had a reasonable amount of time in his fusion, but if the fight dragged on much longer it risked becoming a duel. A war of tactics was not advantageous to the fused warrior; he wanted a brawl, and a quick exit, and he intended to have it.

"Ha-Me-…" Videl saw Okami press on, and though his speed was impressive, he was still quite some distance away. It was a gamble, but given her physical disadvantages, she knew she wouldn't be able to avoid him for much longer. She had to take a risk, and this was as good as it was going to get.

As Okami descended down on her diagonally their eyes locked, his fist primed for contact, and a blue glowing ball now emitting light from between her palms. Okami drove his left shoulder low to create momentum and swung is right fist directly at the center of Videl's face.

"Okami, No!" Yamcha screamed.

"Dodge, Videl!" Gohan yelled, and felt himself lurch forward only to be pulled back by Piccolo's large hand, now gripping his shoulder.

"HAAAA!"

Videl thrust her hands forward with all her might and a flood of blue light cascaded out, casting an aqua filter across the arena and engulfing the upper half of Okami's body. Her short hair blew backwards from the force of the blast, but her feet stayed planted in the corner of the arena as the blast's trajectory carried it over the heads of the audience in the upper deck before it dissolved in the afternoon sky.

Videl finally dropped her hands and began to pant, exhausted from the effort of the blast. Okami was nowhere to be seen amidst the smoke that had engulfed the corner of the arena where it had made contact with his body.

Videl suddenly felt another energy spike, and leapt backward and into the air, but was too slow this time, as Okami's strong hand caught her by the ankle and swung her back to the ground, where he pinned her by the collar using his off hand.

For a moment in this position, Videl trapped on her back, the two locked eyes and Videl saw a mix of desperation and fear in Okami's eyes. The moment passed quickly, though as Okami grabbed her by her shoulder and swung her again, this time over his head as he approached the boundary.

Gohan struggled to suppress his rage as Okami aimed to slam Videl, too tired and in too poor of a position to defend herself, to the ground three feet below. Okami rotated his body again to create momentum and brought Videl down with all his might from over his head.

At the last moment, though, Okami changed the trajectory of his throw. Rather than throwing her straight down, he swung his right arm on the follow-through and flicked his right wrist, causing Videl to arc toward the ground angularly at a high speed.

Videl hit the ground flat of her back but didn't slam, as Gohan had feared. Instead, she fired into a hard slide across the ground toward the wall on the opposite side of the arena some 500 yards away, losing speed and digging up turf with every inch she slid. She dug a path in the top of the ground as she slowed, like a ball player on a hard slide into home plate, and Gohan had little trouble intercepting her path to the back wall, where she looked up and thanked him.

Okami, his face covered in soot and the front of his hair singed, shot his eyes with anticipation to the Announcer who, as if caught off guard by what he had just seen, snapped back into action.

"Videl has touched the ground outside the ring! The winner by ring-out is Okami!"

Upon hearing those last few words, Okami exploded off the arena floor and back into the tunnel.

"Guess I better go check on him." Yamcha said, breathing a sigh of relief, and began strolling toward the entrance of the tunnel.

Trunks and Goten had watched the fight quietly from the entrance to the tunnel. After Okami passed, Trunks turned to Goten and asked, "So, what'd you think about Yamcha's fighter?"

"I think he can't really control his power." Goten deadpanned, "You know what he is, right?"

"Oh yeah." Trunks replied, "He's a fusion, no doubt about that. But did you feel those energy spikes? He's not as strong as Gotenks, but where did Yamcha find two guys with enough strength to create him?"

"I don't know. Think you can take him?" Goten asked.

"Please. Just wait for the show." Trunks said with a smile. Goten smiled too, excited to see what his old friend was capable of.

"What a show! Let's hear it for Okami and Videl!" The announcer, having fully regained his composure, began again. "Up next we have Kiba and Trunks Briefs! Kiba is a three-time competitor making his first trip to the quarterfinals! Trunks is last year's Youth Division champion, the son of last year's Quarterfinalist, Vegeta, a member of the renowned Crane School, and the student of former Semifinalist and 22nd Tournament Champion Tien Shinhan! What a résumé! Give a round of applause for these two great fighters!"

The crowd cheered as Kiba and Trunks, still wearing his cape, walked out onto the arena floor. Kiba was tall and muscular, with canine teeth perhaps best described as fangs, and long, brown hair. He glared at Trunks menacingly, a look which Trunks returned with a cocky side-smile.

"Begin!" The announcer shouted, as Kiba sank into a strange stance that involved his front leg lifting off the ground and both hands raising up above his head.

Trunks looked over at Goten, who was grinning back at him, and then to Gohan, who had turned his attention from Videl to the ring. Trunks shot him a look of disgust, much to Gohan's confusion, before turning his attention back to Kiba, who was putting off virtually no energy. Trunks lowered his arms to his sides, clenched his fists, and began a low yell to muster up his power, the energy emitting from his body causing his hair and cape to blow as if a gust of wind was emitting from the floor of the arena.

"What's he doing?" Krillin asked Tien, who was glaring disapprovingly from his seat in the Master's area.

"He's being foolish." Tien dryly replied.

"I'll tell you what he's doing." Piccolo said, making his way to the Master's area and speaking for the first time since he arrived at the tournament. "He's showing Goten how much power he's hiding. My guess is he's expecting Goten to return the favor."

Trunks pushed his energy higher and higher, even allowing his hair to flicker blonde very briefly before returning to it's natural purple color. The tile beneath his feet began to quake as his yell intensified. His muscles bulged against his clothes and his veins began pressed out against his skin, until he was at the pinnacle of his natural-form power, the whole time staring down a decreasingly confident Kiba. With a forceful "HA" he straightened his back and pushed out his chest as his energy released around his body in every direction.

Finally, he relaxed turned back to Goten, still smiling confidently. Goten was smiling as well, but his eyes had widened and he had a look of awe on his face.

Trunks turned his attention back to Kiba. "Give up now, or I'm going to hurt you." He said menacingly.

Kiba froze, and remained frozen for a moment too long. Trunks phased forward and reappeared in front of him, driving his concealed left elbow into Kiba's stomach. As his elbow made contact and Kiba doubled over in pain, Trunks locked eyes with Goten again, still maintaining his devious grin as Goten smiled back.

The Announcer began the countdown as Trunks walked away from Kiba and toward the entrance. The Announcer was on 8 when Trunks reached the edge, so he stopped short and looked back over his shoulder until 10 was called, and then continued his march toward the tunnel.

"The winner by knockout is Trunks!" the Announcer boomed, and Trunks retook his place next to Goten in the tunnel's entrance.

"Your turn." He said, as Goten began to stretch.

After Kiba had been carted off of the arena floor, the Announcer got back to work. "Up next we have Son Goten vs. Draper! Goten is the son of former Quarterfinalist Chi Chi and last year's Quarterfinalist, two-time Finalist, and 23rd Tournament Champion Goku! He is last year's Youth Division Runner-Up, a member of the illustrious Turtle School, and the student of one-time Quarterfinalist and two-time Semifinalist Krillin! Another stellar résumé! Draper is a first-time competitor making his debut in the quarterfinals! What a feat! Let's get a cheer for these two fighters!

The crowd erupted again as Goten and Draper made their way on to the arena. Tien walked over next to Trunks and leaned against the wall where Goten had been standing.

"Wanna tell me what that was?" the master said to his pupil.

"Nothing dangerous, Master. Just playing head games with my competition. You know I didn't show him much." Trunks replied, looking up and grinning at the three-eyed man.

"You'd do well to keep that cocky streak under control, Trunks. If you intend to win the tournament, I suggest you don't show your opponents any more of your cards."

Tien heard Trunks give an obligatory "Yes, Master." As he walked back to his seat.

Yamcha came back out of the tunnel, but decided to watch from there out of fear he wouldn't make it back to his seat before the fight was over. "I felt your power from inside." He told Trunks, "That was incredible, man! You've really come a long way!"

Trunks turned to Yamcha, "Thank you, Master Yamcha. Tell me the truth, how old was my father when he reached that amount of power?"

"Well, that's tough to say, Trunks. I never really felt Vegeta power up except as a Super Saiyan. You might have better luck asking Krillin or Gohan, they spent a lot more time fighting with him." Yamcha replied.

"I will. Thank you." Trunks said, turning his attention back to Goten.

The match lasted very little time, as Goten elected not to return Trunks's favor. The Announcer started the match, Goten bowed to his opponent, a large light-skinned man with a very serious expression and a strong jaw, and then proceeded to vanish, reappear behind him, and deliver a soft knee to the small of his back.

Goten stood politely out of the way watching the Announcer until the count reached 10, and then returned to his spot in the tunnel, passing Yamcha, who gave him a high-five, on his way back to his spot. When he reached the tunnel, Trunks shoved his shoulder playfully. "Dude, what was that?" He asked.

"Just saving energy." Goten replied with another big smile.

While the staff was attempting to pick Draper up off the tile, Hercule sent a messenger to retrieve Piccolo and bring him inside the tunnel. Piccolo sighed with exasperation and complied, having fully expected the call to come.

Hercule was cowering in a side-room from the tunnel when Piccolo arrived. "Make it quick." The Namek said.

"Umm ok, uhh…you tried to fight me backstage!" Hercule began, clearly in a panic, "Yeah, that's it! And you took a cheapshot! And I, The Great Champion Hercule, Savior of the World, refuse to share a stage with big green cheapshotters! So I'm boycotting in protest. Can I tell that to the press?"

"I don't care." Piccolo deadpanned, "Just tell the staff you forfeit so I can get back to what I came here for. And don't you dare tell them anything that might get me disqualified!" Piccolo barked the last sentence and bared his fangs at Hercule.

"Y-Yes of course! I'll just tell them I've got a stomach virus! That other story is just for the media!"

"It better be." Piccolo said as he walked back outside.

"And now the match you've all been waiting for!" The Announcer declared, "In one corner stands Ma Junior! Former Finalist and last year's Quarterfinalist! And in the other, your hero! Your champion! Your savior from the grips of Cell and Majin Buu! The one! The Only Herrrcuuuuule SA-…"

The Announcer cut his introduction short as an attendant whispered in his ear. "Ladies and Gentlemen I've been informed Hercule is in poor health and will be unable to compete. That means your winner by default is Ma Junior!"

Amid a chorus of boos from the audience, the Announcer continued, "We'll have a 30-minute recess and then continue on to the Semifinals, where we'll have Okami versus Trunks, and Goten versus Ma Junior! We WILL have a new champion this year! Don't go anywhere!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Strategic Collaboration

The three human masters decided to sieze on the opportunity the break provided to coach their students, and walked over to the tunnel where Goten and Trunks had been standing, only to find they were no longer there. They started to walk down the tunnel toward the contestant's lounge to find them, but were turned away by a staffer.

"Sorry," the man said, "The contestants lounge is for fighters only. Even masters aren't allowed inside."

"Well, crap." Krillin droned, "Guess we'll just have to wait for them to come out."

Yamcha was about to try to talk his way in when Piccolo walked by. "I'll send them out to you, but I'm going to speak with them myself first."

"I'll thank you for not doing that." Tien said, causing Piccolo to look back over his shoulder. The two glared at one another for a moment before Piccolo continued walking.

Inside, Trunks had sought out the Wolf School Students, sitting together around a small table, and made a beeline for them.

"Hey, guys. Let's talk." He said, walking up to the corner of the table between Hammur and Nein. He had his arms crossed, and a cocky smile on his face.

"No thanks." Gorra said without looking up.

"Look, I know what you guys are doing." Trunks continued, "I've been part of a fusion myself; one a lot more powerful than the one you guys are creating. Now, I don't know which two of you are making this Okami guy, but I can tell you don't know how to handle the power he's got."

After an uncomfortable moment of silence, Gorra spoke again. "You done?"

"Almost." Trunks replied, "I just want you to know that you don't have to worry about holding back in the next fight. I don't know how well you can sense energy, but after that show I just put on you should be able to tell that I'm no Videl. You better come with everything you've got."

Trunks started to turn and walk away before pausing to make one last comment. "Oh, and if you leave yourself open against me like you did with Videl, you might not live over it. So be careful."

As Tunks turned to leave, he saw Piccolo enter the room and turn his direction. The big Namekian walked purposefully toward him.

"I'll be watching your next match closely." He said, "I suggest you try to impress me."

"If you watched my last match you should already be impressed." Trunks shot back.

"I'll put it this way, Trunks: You're lucky to be on the other side of the bracket. If we fought next I doubt I'd need to remove these weighted clothes. Tien's waiting for you outside, you should go speak to him. I've got to get ready for Goten."

Piccolo then walked away toward the Wolf School table, leaving Trunks standing with gritted teeth and clenched fists.

Piccolo's conversation with the Wolf School was more cordial and brief. "Your teammate was impressive." He began, foregoing any introduction. "In his next match, tell him not to attack so directly. His opponents from here on out will make him pay for that. Good luck."

He then turned and left, eventually finding Goten meditating in a dressing room.

"Wake up, Goten." He said dryly, "We need to talk." He began.

Goten opened his eyes and sprang to his feet. "What's up, Mr. Piccolo? Ready for our fight? I'm real excited."

Piccolo let out a half smile upon hearing his formal nickname for the first time since he'd trained Goten and Trunks for their battle with Buu.

"Goten, Krillin's waiting for you outside. I'm sure he's going to coach you to defeat me in our match; listen to him carefully. He's always been a fine strategist. I fought with him many times, and against him once. He gave me more trouble than he should have; I was much stronger.

"However, I'm sure he's going to remind you not to become a Super Saiyan in our fight. Obey him until I say otherwise. If I decide I want you to come after me at full power, you must obey me. Understand?"

Goten looked puzzled. "But, Krillin's my Master. If he tells me not to go Super Saiyan I can't just not listen."

"Goten, Krillin is trying to protect you. He's afraid that blonde hair will tip off people who remember us from the Cell Games, and he's probably afraid that power will get away from you and you'll hurt someone by accident.

"But I'm telling you now, do it if I tell you to. The only reason I'm here is to measure the progress you and Trunks have made. I can't do that if you're holding back. I'll have Gohan and the masters protect the crowd just in case, but even if something goes wrong, there's only two people in that audience who can't be brought back by our dragon balls, and Roshi and Chiaotzu aren't going to let themselves get hit by an errant blast. This is bigger than just obeying your master. If, and only if, I tell you, give me everything you've got. Understand?"

Goten fidgeted nervously, looking at the floor, before finally replying. "Yes sir…" he whined.

"Good. Now go see Krillin. I'm expecting a good fight, Goten." Piccolo said as he walked out of the room.

Back outside, Tien and Trunks had flown back to the perch where the three masters had watched the preliminaries to meet in private.

"I assume you paid attention to Okami's fight with Videl." The three-eyed master began as Trunks nodded. "Tell me what you've learned about him."

"He's a fusion," Trunks noted before continuing, "So he's fighting on a time limit, but hardly any tournament matches last a full half-hour, anyway. And he can't really control his power, but that probly looked worse just 'cause he was afraid he'd kill Videl if he hit her too hard."

"That's good. What else?" Tien asked.

"He's really aggressive, and he's powerful, but he tips his moves off too soon and doesn't react real quick either. I don't think he's great at sensing energy. If I'm a Super Saiyan, I can take him out in a few seconds."

"But you won't be a Super Saiyan. From the power you two showed in the first round, you've got an advantage on him, but I'm sure we haven't seen his full power yet. I want to see you win this fight with strategy, not by overpowering him. If I've done my job, that shouldn't be a problem. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh yeah, this'll be easy. The championship should be the real fight." Trunks said confidently.

"Careful, Trunks." Tien warned, "And I'm going to put one more rule on you: don't destroy the ring. I want us to have a platform for the last two matches."

"Man…fine..." Trunks whined, as the two levitated and headed back toward the arena. Trunks was confident, but Tien left with a tinge of disappointment that his student hadn't come to understand his opponent more thoroughly.

In the Master's lounge, Krillin and Goten had found the room empty, and the master was beginning to quiz his student. "So, what'd Piccolo tell you?" Krillin asked.

"He said he might tell me to go Super Saiyan when we fight, and that if he does I have to do it." Goten replied meekly.

"Uh huh. And why'd he say that?"

"He says he's only here to see how strong me and Trunks are, and that he can't do that if I'm holding back. I don't wanna disobey you, Master Krillin, but I told him I'd do it if he asks…"

"Good." Krillin said to Goten's surpise. "Look Goten, Piccolo's the one who brought us all together after your brother killed Buu, and he's been fighting for the world as long as any of us – even if he was the bad guy the first couple of times. Plus he used to be the Guardian of Earth AND the Protector of Namek. He might be getting a little paranoid, but he knows what he's doing. We all better listen to him."

Goten nodded as Krillin continued, "Now let's talk about how to beat him! Piccolo's no dummy – probably the smartest fighter I know, actually - so if you do any move more than once, he'll probably make you pay, so make sure to mix it up as much as you can. And I probably wouldn't waste my time with a Kamehameha unless you've got a clear shot, that weird drill blast thing he has would probably split it in half.

"He does spend a lot of time feeling his opponents out, though. He'll probably even wear those weighted clothes into the fight until he feels like he needs to take them off. If I were you, I'd hold back and try to lure him in, then spring on him with everything you've got. But you'll have a feel for the fight when it happens, just do what comes naturally. OK?"

"OK!" Goten exclaimed.

"One more thing. If he fires a bunch of blasts around you, he's not missing; get out of there. He's setting you up."

Yamcha was also meeting with his students, having gathered them around himself as he took a seat in the now-vacated Master's seating. "Guys, what happened in that last fight? Okami was completely out of control."

Hammur spoke first, "Okami's never had to hold back like that before, except with the punching machine. He nearly messed that up, too. I'm not great at sensing energy, but from what I got from that Trunks kid's last match, Okami shouldn't have to hold back much this time.

"That's probably true," Yamcha said, slipping deep into thought. "Power shouldn't be a problem against Trunks based on what he showed, but I'm almost sure he wouldn't show everything he had just to prove a point. You've gotta be careful against these Saiyans. They can do all kinds of crazy things between their energy and their bodies. We caught a break though; Okami had to show a lot more in his match than Trunks did. That little power-up he did gave us more information then he should've.

"Ok, here's what we're gonna do. Trunks is gonna wanna show off to Goten and Piccolo now that he knows he's got a real opponent, so he'll probably either go to his full power, or try something tricky. I know Okami's working against the clock, but it's worth the risk to take our time and make sure we know what we're up against. My money says Trunks opens himself up to an easy strike while he's trying to show off, before time runs out. What do you guys think?"

The four Wolf students nodded in agreement. "Good." Yamcha said, "Now get focused. I'll leave you guys to it." And then got up to leave.

Nein caught him on his way out. "Master," he began, "You should know, the Trunks guy spoke to us earlier. He was very rude. If Okami gets the chance, I believe he will hurt him. Badly."

Yamcha thought for a second before responding. "If Okami gets the chance, he should take it. I know Trunks, and I knew his father. A good beating would probably do him some good."

"Besides," Yamcha said, smiling now, "I don't think Trunks is going to allow himself to get killed. He can still become a Super Saiyan if he gets in trouble. Okami should probably try to end the fight before it comes to that."

Outside the arena in the concession area, Videl and Gohan sat alone at a table.

"I still don't get it," Videl said, "I felt-out all those kids before the fight, none of them were as strong as me. I know fusion's strong, but there's no way he should've been able to take that blast head-on. I put everything I had into that!"

"Don't worry about it, Videl, you were great out there! I know you wanted to win, but look what you were up against: two Super Saiyans, a Super Namek, and a fusion. You're the strongest human in this tournament, everybody saw that!"

Videl started to argue, but let it pass. Gohan was right, and staying mad at him was too much trouble, anyway. "Still," she said, "Those kids don't even know a lot of the basics yet, but they're carrying almost as much power as me. I don't know what kind of master Yamcha is, but he's got a good eye for talent."

It was here that Piccolo appeared, having left the contestant's lounge to find them. "Videl," the Namekian started, "your last fight was impressive. I'm proud of you."

"Why should you be?" she asked, "It's not like you did anything to train me. It's probably your fault I wasn't strong enough!"

"I did what was best for you." he answered, "When I sent you to Korin and Popo, I knew they'd teach you how to fight preemptively, and they did. You can dodge and attack before your eyes even gather what's happening around you, that's why you were able to stand up to such a strong opponent. Now you just need to develop strength. Your real training is ready to begin."

Videl smiled. "Thank you. We'll see. I wanna get strong, but a part of me is ready for some time off." She finished by smiling at Gohan, who smiled back.

The group then heard the overhead announcement for the crowd to gather back into the stands; the semifinals were about to start.

As they turned to leave, Gohan grabbed Piccolo and held him back for a moment. "Hey, did you see that look Trunks gave me before his fight? What was that about?" he asked.

"I saw it, but I'm not sure. I don't know that it's anything to worry about, but we'd better ask Tien if he knows anything." Piccolo responded.

The Announcer, primed from his break and eager after a relatively slow first round, was getting ready to introduce the next round when Yamcha approached him again.

"Why don't you introduce them one at a time to build suspense?" he said, "Do Trunks first if you don't mind, Okami doesn't like standing around waiting for a fight. Once you call him, he'll want to start right away!"

"Hey, that's a great idea!" the Announcer replied, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Semifinals are about to begin! Introducing the pride of the Crane School, student of a champion, undefeated in his tournament career, the great Trunks!"

Tien pinched his two lower eyes in embarrassment. Trunks stepped out of the tunnel, walked to the far side of the arena, and turned to face the entrance, a determined expression on his face. As he watched Okami appear in the tunnel, he removed his cape and threw it to the side of the ring, revealing his tight blue shirt and, through it, his chiseled physique. Okami began lumbering purposefully toward him.

"And now, the winner of one of the greatest battles in the history of the first round! The Wolf School's finest, the Alpha Male with the Ponytail, Okami!" Okami walked purposefully out to the stage with gritted teeth and furrowed brows, stopping once he was inbounds to lock eyes with Trunks.

"Let the Semifinals…Begin!" The Announcer declared, in typically dramatic fashion.

Okami once again exploded out of his stance directly at his opponent, but Trunks maintained his upright position, arms drawn close to his sides. As Okami closed in, the two never broke their stare.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Multiplication & Division

Up in the stands, Bulma was worrying. Having just watched Okami relentlessly hound Videl, much to her dismay, she was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of her son stepping into the ring with the tan fighter.

"Oh, relax, Bulma." Chi Chi said, "The only people in this tournament capable of putting a scratch on Trunks are Goten and Piccolo, and they're all on the same side. I'm sure Trunks is gonna be fine."

Bulma was unsatisfied. "What do you think, Roshi?" she asked, "You can sense energy, right? Is this Okami guy dangerous?"

Roshi thought for a moment before responding. "Well, I'm not as good at it as the others, but I can tell who's in the same league. From what I gathered from the energy those two put off in the first round, I'd say they're just about even. That Okami fellow doesn't have full control of his power, though; he's far too erratic. And Trunks can always become a Super Saiyan if things get hairy. I wouldn't worry about the boy."

Bulma, appeased but still nervous, settled back into her seat to watch the fight.

As Okami continued to close the gap on Trunks, he decided to make his first conservative move of the tournament and, rather than pressing on into contact, threw a blast his opponent's feet. As he predicted, Trunks flew high into the air to avoid the blast, but to his surprise, did not attempt to counter, instead electing simply to float there and maintain his stare.

Trunks began to put together his strategy in his head, "Ok, so he didn't barrel away that time, he probably wants me to hit him first. He's the one fighting against the clock, though, so he can't do that forever." Trunks then descended to the ground.

Okami, wary of his time limit, decided to charge. Rather than simply bull-rush and try to overpower his opponent, however, he opted for a more cohesive attack.

"Wolf Fang Fist!" Okami yelled as he barreled forward again; this time, Trunks felt a significant energy he hadn't anticipated, and quickly broke down into a defensive stance.

Okami was quickly a hair's breath away from Trunks, launching a hard right kick intended for Trunk's right ear, which he blocked with his forearm. Trunks was unable, however, to block the series of punches that followed, as Okami began pummeling Trunks in the stomach and chest, emitting a soft "ha" sound with each blow Finally, Okami threw his wrists together and slammed Trunks in the chest with palms. Trunks crossed his arms in front of his body to block the blow, and succeeded, but the force behind the punch sent Trunks into a tremendous slide all the way to the edge of the ring, where he finally forced himself to stop.

Krillin, watching the fight with Yamcha across the ring from Tien and Piccolo, spoke up. "Whoa, man! That was great!"

"Not bad, but he'll have to do better." Yamcha said plainly, "He landed some blows, but just some quick body shots. I don't think he did much damage."

Trunks dropped his arms and looked up, half smiling at Okami. "Didn't think you had that in you. I'm impressed." He said, "But you better not do it again, it wouldn't end well."

Okami knew it was a ploy, but confidence in his own abilities overrode his intellect. "Let's see it then!" He yelled, as he began to run forward. "Wolf Fang Fist!"

This time, Trunks, seeing he had enough time, widened his stance and threw his arms up diagonally to his body, grunting fiercely. In no time he had broken into a sweat, a vein protruding from his forehead, the whole time Okami drawing closer.

"What's he doing?" Bulma screamed, "Defend yourself, Trunks!"

Four strides away, Okami's face turned to a look of shock as he saw two new arms protrude from Trunks's back, but he pressed on nonetheless and threw another hard right kick, which was again blocked by Trunks's natural left arm.

When he attempted to throw his first punch, however, he was caught in the jaw by a stiff jab from Trunks's new right arm. The two then flew into a flurry of punches, six arms blurring in the crossfire faster than any untrained eye could see, until finally Okami was forced to give ground, allowing Trunks to pummel both his jaw and stomach.

Trunks drew his natural right back for a devastating uppercut and fired, but, to his surprise, the punch was slipped and he found his arm grabbed by Okami, who began to spin him around and around, finally releasing him on a hot line toward the crowd containment wall, some 20 yards outside the arena.

Trunks never hit the wall, though, instead flipping his body around and releasing a burst of energy to explode back into an upright position, where he floated. Trunks allowed his two new arms to dissipate, and the two fighters, now breathing heavily, sized each other up once again. Okami was bleeding from the mouth, and Trunk's hair and brow were damp with sweat, but otherwise they were unharmed.

"What is that disgusting technique?" Piccolo asked Tien.

"How many arms have you sprouted in your life?" Tien retorted. Neither took his eyes off the battle.

"Ok, strategy." Trunks thought, "I was picking him apart until I telegraphed that last punch. Our strength's about even when I'm in this form, but he can't sense my attacks unless I really load up. Or…if he doesn't see them coming."

Trunks returned to the ring and landed amid an enthusiastic applause from the crowd at the action. With Okami looking on, Trunks crouched again, this time crossing his arms in front of his chin, and again began to grunt loudly.

"I can't give him time again! He's vulnerable!" Okami thought, and drew his hands back to his right hip. "Ka-Me-"

Trunks's face began to turn red as his whole body began to shake, pressing to complete his technique before the blast arrived.

"Ha-Me-"

"Hurry up, Trunks!" Tien yelled, breaking his moratorium on in-match instruction.

"HAAA!" Okami yelled, allowing his energy to burst high as the blue wave blasted out of his hands, directly toward Trunks, blowing his long braided hair behind him as he fired. Trunks stared it down, the blast flooding toward him capable of engulfing nearly his entire body, and then flashed a smile.

The wave reached Trunks just as he diffused into four identical forms of himself, and pierced the exact spot where his whole body had been standing less than a second earlier, but between the inner two forms that had taken it's place. The two innermost Trunks forms jumped to either side of the blast to avoid it's reach as it barreled toward the crowd. Gohan phased between the wave and the crowd, and drove his right hand forward, disintegrating the blast in his palm exactly as his father had done in his match against Krillin at this same tournament years ago.

Okami was dumbfounded, and wondered to himself what kind of freak he was up against. Trunks smiled, and shot to the four corners of the ring, surrounding his opponent.

"Wow! Trunks is putting on a clinic of his master's moves! The rare multiform technique, ladies and gentlemen! And a Kamehameha from a Wolf School student! What a show!" the Announcer exclaimed to wild applause from the crowd.

Krillin walked over to Goten, who was watching the fight alone and smiling. "You see what's wrong with this move, right Goten?" he asked.

"Yeah, Trunks split his power up a lot when he did that. I don't think this Okami guy is gonna figure that out, though." He replied.

"Exactly." Krillin said, "Plus, all four of those Trunks are slower and weaker now. If Okami can get even one outside the ring, it's all over."

Goten started laughing. "Nuh uh, Master. Sense 'em out. There's still only one real Trunks. You can tell cuz he's way stronger than the others."

"There is?" Krillin asked, trying to "sense 'em out" as his student had suggested.

Goten laughed again. "Well yeah, Trunks can't _really_ make more of himself. He just split his energy up and made it look like him, kinda like Gotenks's ghost attack. The copies'll probly disappear if they get hit hard enough. The real Trunks'll probly just hang back and maybe fire some blasts, but I don't know what'll happen to his energy if his copies get hurt."

Back on the ring, Trunk's plan was going into motion. All four of his bodies simultaneously threw their right hands forward, index finger extended, and yelled "Dodon!"

Okami leapt into the air to avoid the rays, which collided and exploded exactly where he had been standing. As he looked around, he saw that three of the Trunks's had also jumped to his height, and had closed in significantly. Suddenly, all three threw their hands to their foreheads, closed their eyes, and yelled "Solar Flare!"

Okami was, again, caught completely off guard. A blinding light struck the arena, completely blinding everyone who hadn't protected their eyes. Okami was not in this group, however, and covered his face with his arms far too late. The three Trunks's seized on the opportunity, and simultaneously delivered overhead two-handed slams, sending Okami spiraling toward the arena floor below.

The fourth Trunks was waiting, and sprinted forward to meet Okami before he hit the ground. With a flying kick, he drilled Okami in the middle of his large back and sent him rushing through the air, out of the ring and toward the far wall.

"Uh oh." Yamcha said. "He's going way too fast. Spin out of it, Okami!"

Okami tried to do just that but found himself unable to stop his momentum. He did manage to crack one eye open, however, and realized he was already flying upright. With a mighty "AHH!" he fired a yellow blast at the ground, redirecting his momentum ninety degrees to an upright angle, eventually stopping high in the sky.

"Dang it!" Trunks thought, "I didn't need all three copies to use the Solar Flare. If I'd saved one, I could've had it slam him into the ground outside the ring!"

Tien caught the mistake and shook his head. "Almost a good plan." He said.

"Even so, not bad for a kid." Piccolo responded, "He's well-trained."

Tien looked up at the big Namek and nodded thankfully before returning his attention to the ring.

Okami, still far away from any of the Trunks's, began to put his thoughts together. He had felt in the exchange a far stronger energy in the one who had kicked him than the others. "That must be the original." He reasoned. Unfortunately, the four had reassembled into a group, so he was unable to tell which one the original was. But now he had a plan.

From his high vantage point, Okami grabbed his right wrist and brought it close to his face, two fingers extended. A small blue orb floated above it, which he then directed downward at a roaring speed toward the group of Trunks's.

"What is that?" Trunks said to himself, as the ball approached. One of the copies stepped forward as the ball careened toward him, and backhanded it away.

"Is that the best you've g-" the copy began, but never got a chance to finish. The ball flexed back and began pummeling his head repeatedly, driving him to a one knee. The Trunks copy attempted to defend himself, but was unable to keep up with the ball's speed and with a "poof" sound, vanished from existence.

"Crap!" Trunks exclaimed as his three remaining forms divulged across the ring. Okami smiled as he directed the ball after another copy, already on the defensive.

The next copy swatted repeatedly at the orbiting ball and, after taking a few hits, eventually corralled it in his hands and drew it into his body. Okami smiled again as his hand drew into a fist and the ball exploded, causing the second copy to disintegrate.

Okami readied another Spirit Ball as the two remaining Trunks's rushed toward each other. Okami fired the ball as the copy Trunks faded back into the original, who slipped into a ready defensive stance, an angry grimace on his face.

The ball careened toward Trunk's head, but he slipped the blow and caught it in his right hand, slinging it back at Okami in one slick motion. Finding he could no longer control it, Okami flew out of the way and, once it had passed, detonated the blast. "So he regained some of his power when the last copy faded." Okami thought to himself, "He's too strong now for parlor tricks." Electing to abandon the strategy, he descended back to the ground, parallel to a now clearly winded Trunks.

Trunks began to survey his options. He could become a Super Saiyan, but that would be admitting defeat in Tien's task, something he could never do so publicly. He could attempt to gain a height advantage and levy a massive blast, but that might destroy the arena, again failing Tien and wrecking his chance at a title, and without the height advantage he risked hitting the crowd or missing altogether; with his present dearth of energy, a big miss could be catastrophic. He could attempt to fight head-up, but he was significantly weakened from the loss of energy he'd put into the two exploded copies, or he could try another technique, perhaps the Four Witches again, but that required time and energy he wasn't sure he could afford to surrender.

Okami made the decision for him by again recklessly barreling forward, his right arm drawn back in anticipation of impact. Trunks phased out and reappeared a few feet to his left, forcing Okami to redirect his charge. Rather than switch his body position, however, Okami attempted to contort his body all the way around, keeping his right arm drawn back.

Noting the awkward position, Trunks held his ground and allowed Okami to come to him. Okami fired his big right hand with all his might, but Trunks easily slipped the punch and, now standing to the right of Okami's exposed body, threw a gut-wrenching knee into his stomach. As Okami keeled over, Trunks placed both hands on the side of his body and issued a loud "HA!" as a bright yellow light emitted out of his hands and engulfed Okami's body, sending him sprawling across the ring into the far corner.

"Geeze, Okami, just punch with your left hand!" Yamcha moaned.

"Man." Videl said, "If I could've countered like that I bet I could've taken that guy."

Okami came to a stop just inside the far corner of the arena and slowly dragged himself to his feet, raising his eyes to look across the ring at his opponent. He had taken significant damage in the exchange, and was now as worse-for-wear as Trunks was. They stood looking at each other, breathing deeply, for several seconds. Okami planted his foot and fired toward Trunks again, who had gritted his teeth and settled into another defensive stance. Okami gave a mighty roar and mustered all his power, intent on deciding the battle on this charge. He was roughly halfway across the ring, when suddenly,

" _POP"_

Okami split apart in an instant, sending Hammur, Gorra, Nein, and Naken sprawling across onto the ring, accompanied by a loud gasp from the crowd.

"Oh no." Yamcha said.

"What is THIS?" The Announcer bellowed.

"Here it comes…" Yamcha squinted his eyes.

"Is this…some kind of new technique?! Amazing!" The Announcer yelled enthusiastically, drawing a loud cheer from the crowd.

Yamcha opened his eyes, "Wait…really?"

"I KNEW it!" Oolong yelled, jumping to his feet again.

Trunks smiled and stood upright again "So," he said, "that's how you got him so strong."

Hammur then sprung to his feet, turned to the others and yelled, "Offset right!" The others snapped into place, breaking into two rows, Hammur and Gorra in the front, Nein and Naken behind and to their right, looking through the shooter's window above each of their right shoulders.

Trunks thought again. He could fight four on one, where he had a massive strength advantage, but even one wrong move could eliminate him; a risky manuevre against an organized unit. A four-on-four matchup played more into their favor, but he was many times stronger than any of them, and he was well schooled in coordinating his multiform technique, so his clones should be fine, he reasoned. Better to give them many targets.

Trunks crossed his arms, widened his stance and screamed again, as Hammur continued barking orders. "Wolf Pack Fist!" He yelled as the four charged toward their target.

Soon, Trunks had produced three copies, however, and they each thrust their hands forward with open palms, blasting a massive Kiai down the center of the group, desolating the formation.

Each of the Trunks's charged a member of the Wolf School, still reeling from the Kiai wall, and began the onslaught. The wolf-men fought valiantly, repeatedly taking damage and countering with hard shots, but Trunks was far too fast.

Having worked each member to their own side of the ring, each Trunks grunted and raised their power to it's height again, and each fired a different limb, striking the Wolf School students from the ring, and, without the energy to stop their momentum, onto the ground below.

Trunks's forms gathered back together as the Announcer boomed again, "Trunks wins by ring-out! What a match! A true display of technical mastery! Trunks is advancing to the finals! Let's hear it for both of these fantastic fighters!"

Trunks, now drenched in sweat and covered in cuts and bruises let out a heavy sigh, and stepped out of the ring to pick up his cape. He put it on, and amid wild cheering from the crowd, walked quietly back into the tunnel.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Course Evaluation

"Ladies and Gentleman, after that incredible match, the arena requires slight repairs. We'll take a very short recess and return with the second match of the Semifinals!" The Announcer proclaimed to the audience, who withheld their "boos", likely thankful for the opportunity to reflect on what they'd just seen.

Gohan, temporarily relieved of his duties as crowd-protector, flew over to where Tien and Piccolo were standing as the repair crew trotted onto the arena floor. "Congrats, Tien." He began, "That was something! That's some pretty advanced strategy for someone his age."

"Thank you." Tien replied halfheartedly. "He's got a long way to go, but I was glad to see him stick to a plan."

Gohan was trying to think of a way to breach the uncomfortable topic on his mind when Piccolo broke in and did it for him, in his patented tactless fashion.

"During Trunks's first match, he gave Gohan a strange glare; we both saw it. What do you know about that?" Piccolo asked Tien.

"It's a longer story than we have time for right now, I'll tell you all about it after the tournament." Tien replied as he began to walk away, "I've got to catch up with Trunks, but it's nothing to worry about, I assure you."

"If there's something to it you've at least got to tell me what it's about!" Gohan broke in.

Tien turned back around, "Apparently Vegeta and Bulma didn't tell Trunks much about our history, so I filled him in. And I was honest; I didn't leave anything out. He has a right to know."

"And?" Gohan asked.

"And he's had a chance to form his own opinions about everything that happened. If he holds any ill will toward you, I'm not aware of it, but I'll look into it. Now, I've got to go." With that, Tien turned and walked toward the participant's tunnel, leaving Gohan and Piccolo behind.

"What am I supposed to make of that?" Gohan asked Piccolo.

"I don't know; we'll keep an eye on it. For now, I've got a match to prepare for." Piccolo replied, and then began walking the same line Tien had toward the tunnel.

Inside the Tunnel, Trunks was cleaning sweat and blood off himself and reliving the fight in his head, preparing for his next talk with Tien, when he saw the Wolf School students walk in and sit down. He stood up and walked over toward them.

"If you've come to gloat, you can go ahead and shut up." Gorra said, a serious expression on his face. Trunks noticed that in almost every encounter he'd had with the group, Gorra, from the base of Korin's tower, was the first to speak up.

"I'm actually here to thank you. I haven't been pushed that far in a long time." Trunks replied, "If you hadn't come unfused, it was anybody's fight. Why'd it happen so soon, though? There's no way that was half an hour."

Naken now spoke up, "It was fifteen minutes. Doubling the number of people in the fusion cuts the time in half. Forming Okami has a lot of drawbacks, but it's the only way we could compete in this tournament."

"I understand," Trunks replied, "in my fusion, Gotenks, he diffused faster if we made him put out too much power. Anyway, sorry if I was rude earlier. I get like that before a fight." He then turned to walk out to find Tien.

"Trunks." Gorra said, causing Trunks to look back around. "This was our first real fight. Next time, Okami's time limit won't come into play."

Trunks smiled, "Next time." And walked out of the tunnel.

Outside, Krillin and Yamcha were having a similar conversation.

"How'd you even know how to do that? And how'd you even get all four of them in there?" Krillin asked, "Did you put 'em all in a circle or what?"

Yamcha laughed, "After watching Goten and Trunks on the Lookout, it was burned into my brain, I couldn't help but memorize it. But nah, we tried that; nothing happens. You've gotta make two separate fusions and then have them fuse. Gorra and Hammur fuse to make Gammur, and Nein and Naken make Neiken, and then they fuse and you get Okami."

"How do you get "Okami" out of Gammur and Neiken?" Krillin asked.

"That's not really how it works. When I first asked him his name he gave me some crazy mixture of all four of their names; it was impossible to pronounce, so I named him that. It means "Wolf". Anyway, shouldn't you be coaching up Goten? The match is about to start." Yamcha replied.

Krillin laughed, "He's about to fight Piccolo, what am supposed to tell him? He'll be fine."

Trunks and Tien found one another just as the Announcer's voice boomed over the speakers, "Ladies and Gentlemen! Introducing our next two Quarterfinalists! Son of the most spectacular fighter in Tournament history, student of the most renowned school in the world, the youngest competitor to ever reach this stage of the competition, give it up for Goten!

"And his opponent, the ageless wonder! Towering nearly eight feet tall, green, fanged, the most intimidating presence you'll ever see! He fought Goten's father in the greatest match in Tournament history! Let's hear it for Ma Junior!"

The two then walked out onto the ring side-by-side, Piccolo ever seriously, Goten excitedly.

"You ready, Mr. Piccolo?" The boy asked, stretching out one of his arms across his chest and grinning.

Piccolo looked down and gave a crooked smile, "Let's hope you are. Show me what you're made of, kid."

Once on the ring, the two jumped apart and squared off across the floor from one another, collapsing into classic stances.

The Announcer drew a deep breath and shouted, "BEGIN!"

The two fired out of their stances and launched across the ring at one another at blinding speed. They came to a stop in the center, their right forearms pressed together where they had collided, as Piccolo's cape settled down his back. The two locked eyes before separating, and firing at one another again, repeating the pattern repeatedly at a furious pace.

"Whoa." Gohan said, standing next to Videl again. "I knew Piccolo could do this, but I didn't think Goten could keep up in his base form. He's stronger than I ever was without becoming a Super Saiyan!"

"What are you talking about?" Videl replied, her eyes furiously searching the stage, "I can barely keep up with them."

"Just relax and feel their energy, let your eyes find them. Don't strain." Gohan said, half smiling, "Just like Piccolo taught me."

Slowly, Videl began to make out their figures clearly colliding again and again in the air, trading blows and returning for more without any signs of weakening. "I see them!" she yelled excitedly, "When did Piccolo teach you that?"

Gohan's smile turned into a frown, "That's a sad story for another day." He said, recalling the outcome of the battle he had witnessed when he learned the trick.

Back on the stage, the speed with which the two fighters were colliding was steadily picking up, until the two were colliding, rebounding, and firing again at a breakneck pace. Finally, Piccolo threw a massive overhand fist directly at Goten's chin, only to have it pass through his after-image. He looked to his left just in time to see Goten club him across the back with both hands, sending him crashing toward the ground.

Piccolo landed in a kneeling position on the tile below, and easily rose back to his feet. Goten had landed across the ring, and patiently waited for Piccolo to reenter the fight, foregoing the opportunity to strike while his opponent was vulnerable. Both were breathing heavily.

"Not bad, kid." Piccolo said as his breathing returned to normal, "Good use of an old trick. Sorry to say, I've got bad news."

"What's that?" Goten asked, confidently, but genuinely curious.

"These are the heaviest weights I've ever worn. And now they're coming off." Piccolo removed his cape and turban, throwing them to the side of the ring where they crashed into the ground creating two sizable craters.

"Guess I better take mine off, too." Goten replied. He then untied the top half of his gi, revealing a tight black undershirt barely noticeable before. He removed it and threw it to the side, sending it crashing next to Piccolo's cape, before putting his gi back on over his muscled torso.

"Goten's fast." Trunks commented to Tien, "But he should've been able to hit Piccolo a lot harder that time; he had him set up."

"They're still feeling each other out." Tien replied, "Goten could've hit him harder, sure, but Piccolo wouldn't have ever let himself get in that position if he was being serious. Looks like they're just about done sparring."

Gohan walked over and picked up Piccolo's cape in one hand and Goten's shirt in the other.

"Well?" Videl asked.

"Piccolo's been carrying a lot more weight, no doubt about that. Both are heavy, though."

Videl walked over and attempted to pick up Piccolo's turban, but was unable to lift it above her knees. "You've gotta be kidding me!" she yelled.

Back on the stage, the two fighters were back at it. Goten rushed forward and threw a hard left cross cross that skimmed just over the top of Piccolo's antennas. Piccolo fell flat on this back and, as Goten fell over the top of his body, thrust both feet into his chest and sent him rushing into the air, still facing downward.

Still rising upward from the force of the kick, Goten arched his back and drew his hands toward his hip, taking aim at Piccolo on the ground below. "Ka-Me"

Piccolo jumped to his feet and backwards so as to change the angle, then dug in his heels and placed his right middle and index fingers on his forehead, causing spark-like lights to appear around his skull.

"Ha-Me"

Piccolo grinned. "Let's see it." He said under his breath.

"HAAAAA!"

Goten's blast formed a massive ball at it's tip and fired down toward the ground, hurtling directly toward Piccolo.

"Makankosappo!" Piccolo returned fire directly at the wave.

As the two beams fired toward one another, Goten suddenly swung his hands, the bases of his palms still together, and steered his beam downward toward the ground some thirty feet from Piccolo. Once it was inches above impact, he threw his arms upward, sending it careening directly at his opponent. The big Namekian never flinched, instead keeping his right arm pointed directly at his target as the blue wave closed in on him.

"He's not gonna dodge?!" Goten yelled, clearly caught off guard by Piccolo's lack of a reaction. He had planned for Piccolo to forego his attack to dodge his wave once he redirected it, but now he was staring down a spiraling ray capable of drilling a hole straight through his chest. At the last second, Goten released the Kamehameha and threw his body sideways, catching a severe burn atop his left shoulder, but avoiding the brunt of the attack.

Piccolo never broke his glare at Goten as the Kamehameha closed in. At the last moment, he threw his free arm out and caught the blast with his off hand, where it exploded and engulfed him briefly in smoke, doing virtually no damage.

"Gonna have to put more behind it than that." Krillin said. "Come on Goten, make me look good here!"

"I don't think he was planning on having to let it go so early." Yamcha replied, neither taking their eyes off the match. "Gotta give him credit though, pretty crafty to turn his blast like that. Piccolo's beam is strong but he can't change it's direction once it's fired."

Goten sensed Piccolo in the smoke and elected to charge in, leading with a flying kick. Piccolo dodged it easily, though, and went into a back pedal as Goten launched into a flurry of punches and kicks, driving Piccolo back to the edge of the arena floor, where the two flew up into the air as Goten continued his pursuit. All the while, Piccolo remained silent and focused, staring intently at his attacker as he deftly dodged and blocked every strike.

"Come on, Goten! It's not enough!" He finally barked, spurring the boy into an even more furious barrage, forcing Piccolo to increase the speed at which was ducking, dodging, and blocking, but still registering no real damage for his effort.

Goten finally launched a devastating roundhouse kick at the side of Piccolo's head. Piccolo blocked it with his forearm, however, and threw his free palm into Goten's chest. With a "HA!" a flash of golden light engulfed the young fighter, sending him spiraling back toward the arena floor.

Goten landed on his hands and knees, gasping for air, the burn of the blast still hot across the front of his body. Piccolo landed across the ring and stood upright while Goten drug himself up off the floor. As Goten settled back into his stance with a furious look on his face, Piccolo popped his knuckles and neck.

"You wouldn't be so cocky if I was a Super Saiyan!" Goten yelled, "It's not like you had to come unfused for the tournament! It's not fair."

Piccolo gave a half smile, "You're right, kid. It's not fair. Why don't you do something about it?"

Goten broke back into his signature smile, "You mean it?!"

"Yeah. I've seen what I need to see so far. Now I need to know what you've been hiding."

"You got it!"

"Don't get cocky." Piccolo replied, the smile disappearing from his face. "I've got no reason to be scared of a Super Saiyan."

"He's right about that, you know." Gohan said to Videl, "There was a time when we had three Super Saiyans on our side and Piccolo was still our strongest fighter. And when Gotenks diffused, Buu took on Piccolo's look, not Trunks's."

"I've never even seen him in a real fight!" She yelled back, "How strong are you guys?!"

Goten hunched forward and balled his fists at his sides, as he began a low yell. His hair began to float lightly upward and flicker blonde, as his power climbed higher and higher. Finally, with a loud, "YAHHHH!" he shot to his full height and puffed out his chest, his hair now fully erect and golden, his body encased in a yellow glow, and his eyes a deep green.

Piccolo took a moment to fully measure his opponent's power, a serious expression on his face. He then settled into a stance and stared down his opponent, who was now smiling confidently.

"Not bad." the Super Namek said, "Let's see what you've got."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Biological Limitation

Tien and Trunks stood side by with their arms crossed and serious expressions on their faces, taking in Goten's power. "So, there it is." Tien said.

"Guess so." Trunks replied, keeping his attention on the arena, "Let's see what he can do with it."

Goten and Piccolo stared each other down, Piccolo with his standard serious expression, Goten with a wry smile that bore more than a passing resemblance for the one his father had worn for so many years.

"Not bad, kid." Piccolo said flatly, "I figured as much."

Goten smiled and sank into his stance, his golden aura pulsating around him, "Let me know when you're ready." he said.

Piccolo didn't hesitate; he lurched forward toward Goten and pulled back his right arm, forming a large glowing ball in his right hand. As the space between the two closed, he threw the ball directly at Goten's feet, forcing the Saiyan to retreat into the air.

Piccolo planted his feet and began firing blast after blast from each hand into the air around Goten, one after another. Goten, wary of the trap, began flying at blinding speed around the arena, attempting to set up a counterattack while refusing to stay in place long enough to be trapped.

Piccolo saw the maneuver and fired a blast far ahead of Goten's path, in an effort to force him back into the minefield he had laid in the sky. Rather than turn, however, Goten clasped his hands and batted the blast back toward the ground, forcing Piccolo to jump backwards as the ball detonated where he had been standing.

"Too smart for that, huh?" Piccolo said to himself, "Then try this!"

Piccolo returned to his strategy, firing golden orbs one after another into the sky. However, this time he wasn't trying to trap Goten; instead, he began firing ahead of his target's flight path.

Goten came across the first orb of Piccolo's new plan and reared back to bat it toward the arena again. Just as he began to swing, however, Piccolo closed his fist and detonated the blast, blowing Goten backward and out of control.

As Goten spiraled through the air, Piccolo fired blast after blast, detonating them all around his target. Goten struggled mightily to regain control of his momentum, as it was all he could to redirect his body away from the explosions. Time and time again, Piccolo launched his mines into the air, and time and time again, Goten wildly contorted his path, often performing awkward flips and spirals, but never allowing himself to take a serious hit from the firework display set off by the dozens of explosions.

"Well, if nothing else it's a good show, I guess." Yamcha said to Krillin.

"Just give him a minute, he'll figure it out." Krillin replied confidently.

Just as Krillin had predicted, Goten saw his opening. Desperate to try something new, he saw one of Piccolo's blasts appear directly in front of him. Rather than try to dodge it, however, and unable to reach an arm forward without completely losing his balance, he opened his mouth and screamed.

A stream of golden light shot out of Goten's open mouth at the orb, causing it to detonate on impact, too far away to impact his flight. Seeing his chance Goten shot ninety degrees upward, skying as high as possible to create space between himself and his attacker. Piccolo continued to fire away, but each shot had more distance to cover than the last as Goten flew higher and higher, finally in control of his body again. Finally, Piccolo abandoned the strategy as a lost cause, and stopped firing. He stood alone on the arena panting and sweating, with Goten so far into the sky that, if not for his energy, Piccolo wouldn't know where he'd gone.

"Wow! Ladies and gentlemen, did you see that!?" The Announcer howled, "What an incredible display of skill between these two amazing fighters!"

Up in the air, Goten was already planning his counterattack. In sharp contrast to Piccolo, he was holding up very well, despite the acrobatic display he had just been forced to perform. He was breathing heavily, but showed far fewer signs of fatigue, and looked to be greatly enjoying himself.

Goten divebombed down to the arena below, making a beeline for Piccolo, still trying to regain his stamina. Piccolo waited until Goten was only a few feet above him before jumping backward and going on the defensive. He managed to block Goten's initial punch, a strong overhand haymaker, but was quickly forced into a backpedal by an onslaught of punches and kicks by the blonde-haired fighter.

Piccolo blocked and dodged every blow that came, but was quickly reaching his limit. He continued to give ground, Goten's relentless attack pressing him all the while, until he felt himself reach the edge of the ring, forcing him to set his feet and attempt to match his assailant blow-for-blow.

For a moment, Piccolo held his own. A big left hook narrowly missed Goten's jaw, but forced him to briefly give ground; Piccolo jumped on the opening by firing two laser-like beams from his eyes. Goten saw the attack coming and attempted to dodge, but the beams hit squarely on his left shoulder, sending his body spiraling toward the ground.

Piccolo saw his advantage and threw a claw intended to pin Goten to the ground, but the blow never reached it's mark. On his way to the ground, Goten caught himself on his injured left arm and spun, deftly avoiding Piccolo's strike and continuing around until the lower half of his body was completely behind the Namekian. Goten kicked Piccolo's feet out from under him, shot to his feet and fired a devastating kick directly into his chest, sending him firing out of the ring.

Goten elected not to pursue, opting to allow Piccolo to save himself if he was able to do so. Piccolo, flying flat of his back away from the ring, tried to stop his momentum, but the force from the kick was too much to overcome. He was, however, able to sit up slightly and give his last ditch effort. He reached his right arm out and extended it, sending it snaking across the stadium and back toward the ring.

Goten, believing the arm was intended for him, shot back to the far side of the arena, but Piccolo's reach fell well short. It did, however, reach it's target. His hand clamped to the edge of the ring with enough force to crack the concrete. Piccolo stopped extending and hit the end of his self-made rope like a Rottweiler reaching the end of it's chain at a dead sprint. The force of the pull threatened to bust the concrete he was clinging to free, but his claws dug in and the ring held. Finally able to support his weight with his energy, Piccolo reeled himself back to the arena floor, releasing his grip just short to gracefully touch down.

Goten, much like the audience, was in shock at what he had just seen. "Wow, Mister Piccolo!" he said, "I didn't know you could do that! That was awesome!"

Piccolo was breathing deeply and sweating profusely, and his antennas were drooping low over his forehead. His whole body ached, particularly his chest; Goten's kick had knocked the wind out of him, and he was fairly sure he had cracked a rib. His right arm and hand were significantly weakened from the effort of stopping his fall, and it was all he could do to open and close his fist. Standing in front of him was a young Super Saiyan, healthy and full of energy, and already sinking into his stance for another exchange.

Piccolo dropped his guard before speaking, "Alright, kid. That's enough."

"What'd he say?" Krillin asked in disbelief. Trunks and Yamcha's faces shot to looks of shock, Tien and Videl raised their eyebrows, and Gohan smiled.

"Huh? What do you mean, 'That's enough'?" Goten asked, "We're just getting started!"

"Like I said, Goten, I'm here to measure you and Trunks, not win a tournament. I've seen what I need to see."

"But we're still fighting!" Goten protested, "At least let me win fair and square!"

Piccolo cracked a smile, "You've already won, Goten. I can't keep up with you anymore. If I keep fighting, I'm just gonna end up getting hurt. I could probably make you work for it, maybe even land a big hit, but I'd just hamper you against Trunks. Start getting ready, I'm planning on learning a lot from that fight. This is as far as I go."

Goten looked on in disbelief as Piccolo coolly stepped off the edge of the arena onto the grass below and began quietly strolling back to the tunnel. Gohan picked up his training clothes and followed him, careful to give him a wide berth.

"Umm…Ladies and gentlemen, Ma Junior has touched down outside the ring." The Announcer said, remembering his duties. "That means the winner of the match is Goten! What a match! We'll have another short break to repair the arena and let the fighters recover, and then begin our final match! It's Trunks vs. Goten! Can you feel the energy?!"

The crowd erupted into a violent mixture of cheers and boos as Piccolo made his way to the tunnel. As his friends around him burst into confused chatter, Roshi stroked his beard and nodded solemnly.

"Master Tien," Trunks asked, "why'd Piccolo do that? He's supposed to be a warrior; warrior's don't give up while they can still fight."

"Not every fight's about winning, Trunks." Tien replied, "Sometimes it's about completing a mission. Piccolo completed his, there was no reason for him to continue."

Videl was perplexed as well, "Hey, Gohan." She began, "Piccolo's supposed to be stronger than a Super Saiyan, and he's been training with you. Plus he was winning for most of that fight, and then he just quits after one kick? What gives?"

Gohan thought for a second before replying, "Well, Piccolo's not quite as strong as he used to be, for one. He's in great shape, but he's starting to get pretty old, and I think those fusions were pretty hard on his body. Plus, even when he was stronger than our Super Saiyans, they were all new to the transformation. Once we perfected it, we were all stronger than him. He's strong, but he saw the writing on the wall; Goten's just too much for him."

"So Goten's already perfected being a Super Saiyan?" She asked.

"I wouldn't go that far." Gohan replied, still thinking deeply, "He still doesn't seem totally comfortable in it to me; almost like he's not used to fighting in it. He's no rookie, though, so he's probably somewhere in the middle. Vegeta used to call it being 'ascended'."

"That sounds…confusing. Is he stronger than Trunks?" She asked again.

"Well, Trunks hasn't turned into a Super Saiyan yet, so it's hard to tell." Gohan continued, "But I haven't felt anything from Trunks yet that makes me think he can put off the kind of energy Goten just put into that kick."

Goten walked off the arena floor and began walking toward the coach's seating to find Krillin, but stopped short to catch Trunks's eye across the ring. Trunks gave a half smile and nodded. Goten returned with the same, and continued on his way.

"So, tell me what you saw." Tien said, getting a jump on his game planning with Trunks.

"He's strong." Trunks replied dryly.

"Maybe stronger than you." Tien noted.

"Raw strength, maybe." Trunks replied, "But you felt how much energy he was using. He's strong, but he's not efficient. No way he's mastered the form yet."

"So what, then? Try to outlast him?"

"If I have to." Trunks said, cracking a smile, "But it's been a long time since I've been pushed to my limit as a Super Saiyan. I might just surprise myself."

Krillin greeted Goten coming out of the ring. "Hey, great fight, man! When'd you learn how to do a mouth blast?"

Goten smiled and scratched the back of his head, looking for all the world like his father, "I dunno, I just kinda did it. I wish Mister Piccolo hadn't quit, though, I was just starting to have fun!"

"I wouldn't worry about that, Trunks oughta give you all the fun you want and then some." Krillin replied, "You two feel like you're gonna be real close."

"Yeah! It's gonna be great!" Goten yelled excitedly, "I bet Trunks has all kindsa moves he hasn't shown yet! And he better, cuz I'm not losin' to him two times in a row and I'm way stronger now, too!"

Back in the locker room, Piccolo had removed his shirt and was gingerly wrapping his rib cage with some tape he had threatened away from a staffer. He winced as he tightened the tape across his broken rib, but the pain made him crack a smile through his gritted teeth. Thanks to that pain, for the first time in years, the world felt a little safer.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Friendly Fire

Yamcha sauntered away from Krillin and Goten toward Tien and Trunks, both pairs huddled up, piecing together their strategies for the final match. "Hey guys!" He began, "Krillin wants to know if you two wanna meet up with them and set some rules for the finals so everybody's on the same page. He sent me so it wouldn't look like he's trying to eavesdrop."

"Sure, we'll head over in just a moment." Tien replied, wanting to finish his thoughts on the match with his student.

Yamcha returned to Krillin to report the response, and true to their word, the Crane school was soon heading over to the Masters' seating area. Just as they arrived, Piccolo emerged from the tunnel, back in his turban and cape, Gohan trailing behind him.

"Guess we better wait on them." Krillin said, "I'm sure Piccolo's gonna have an opinion."

Soon the group was gathered together: both fighters, all three masters, Piccolo, and Gohan. Sure enough, Piccolo was the first to speak.

"Alright boys, listen up." He began gruffly, "Everyone knows you two aren't going to stay in your base forms even if we tell you to, and there's nothing more I can learn from that anyway. So don't waste our time; start the fight as Super Saiyans."

Goten and Trunks nodded with smiles on their faces; Goten's big and excited, Trunks's more wry in nature.

"We're all going to line the stadium and protect the crowd as much as we can, but you two are carrying a lot more power than any of us except Gohan now, and if you're anything like your masters, you've both probably got moves that would be next to impossible for us to block." Piccolo continued, "If things start getting intense, get up in the air away from the crowd, or we'll break up the match, no questions asked."

The smiles faded from the boys' faces as they nodded once more.

"One more thing." He said, "You two are friends, I know. But I also know you're Saiyans. Don't forget that this is just a match. You've both got enough power to kill the other one or destroy the planet if things get out of hand. Do NOT let it get to that point. Do I make myself clear?" He finished the lecture with a slight growl in his voice.

Both boys nodded solemnly. "Let's get a little more specific, just to be sure." Krillin said, "Goten, don't break out the Kienzan. It's not really useful unless you plan on cutting him in half, anyway."

Tien chimed in as well, "No Kikoho either, Trunks. We want a match, not a battle."

The boys agreed again, less enthusiastically this time.

"Good." Piccolo said, "Now go rest up for what's left of the break; you'll need all the energy you can get."

"Didn't anybody bring some senzu beans?" Trunks asked.

"Absolutely not!" Piccolo yelled, catching everyone by surprise at his sudden explosion, "Do you know how hard it is to grow those?! If you think we're about to waste two of them on a tournament you're out of your mind!"

"Geeze, I was just asking…" Trunks said. He and Tien turned to leave, as did Goten and Krillin.

"Good luck, guys!" Gohan yelled, "You're both gonna do great!"

Goten smiled and waved back at him; Trunks rolled his eyes and continued walking.

Up in the stands, 18 saw the storm coming, and had placed both Marron and herself between Chi Chi and Bulma. The two had cheered wildly for Goten in his bout with Piccolo, but as soon as the Announcer had teased the final matchup, the two had fallen completely silent.

"What, no catfight?" Roshi asked, overtly disappointed.

The two ignored him, and 18 shot him a death glare. He turned his attention back to the arena, and patiently awaited the match.

Down on the arena floor, the workers were working frantically to finish the repairs. The chunk of missing concrete on the side of the ring was giving them particular trouble.

"Geeze, he did all that with his hand and _lost_?" The Announcer said to himself. "Good thing this is the last match…"

Finally, after twenty minutes, the staff determined the floor was functional, despite the massive cracks around the new tile. Trunks and Goten met in the tunnel entrance and awaited their introductions.

"Laaaaaadies aaaaaand Gentlemennnnn!" The Announcer shouted from the center of the ring, reveling in the raucous response from the crowd. "Welcome to the finals of the 26th World Martial Arts Tournament!"

"Hope you're ready, Trunks." Goten said, "I'm not the same kid you beat here three years ago."

"Yeah?" Trunks replied in similar playful fashion, "Well I am the same kid who beat you three years ago, just a lot stronger. I've still never lost a fight, you know."

"Better say that as much as you can while it's still true." Goten retorted. Any further dialogue was cut off as Goten's introduction began.

"The two youngest fighters in the history of the public portion of our tournament everyone! A rematch of our last tournament's JUNIOR division! First! The pride of the Turtle School, he's got the pedigree of a champion, and he's out for revenge. Give it up for Son Goten!"

Goten walked out to the far side of the ring, smiling and waving at the crowd as their raucous cheers poured down. He managed to find Chi Chi in the crowd, already beside herself with a mixture of enthusiasm and what appeared to be aggression. Upon reaching his destination, he turned and looked back toward the tunnel, locking eyes with Trunks. His face quickly faded from his crowd-pleasing grin and turned to sheer determination as the Announcer introduced his opponent.

"And now! You're returning Junior Champion! The Crane School's finest! He's out to win two different divisions in as many tournaments, and he's got the skills to do it! Ladies and gentlemen, let me hear you! Introducing, Trunks Briefs!"

Trunks walked down the aisle and onto the ring directly opposite Goten, still with a cocky smile on his face, the crowd erupting all around him. When he reached his mark, the smile faded, and the noise of the crowd seemed to fade from both their ears, as they completely locked in their focus on one another.

Both fighters had shed their excess clothing; Goten no longer wore the weighted undershirt beneath his orange gi, and Trunks had forgone the aesthetics of his cape, opting to reduce his wardrobe to the more practical blue formfitting shirt. Both kept their power suppressed, but they could feel it boiling beneath the surface in one another, waiting for their signal.

Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, and Piccolo had spread to the four corners of the interior of the stadium, primed to deflect any errant blast up and away from the crowd. Gohan stood closer to the ring, prepared to follow the action as it went and use his superior speed to track any errant blast and, if necessary, put a stop to the action. The Announcer was to serve as the official judge, but the real authority rested in Gohan's hands.

"Fighters, ARE YOU READY?!" The Announcer boomed, driving the crowd to it's feet in anticipation of the action. In response, Goten and Trunks began steadily raising their powers toward their peaks. Each gave an affirmative nod without breaking eye contact with the other.

"Then let the final match…BEGIN!"

Neither fighter made a move, but tensed their muscles and grunted. Their hair bolted upright and glowed gold, their eyes went green, and their powers skyrocketed. They stood looking at one another, measuring their opponent before the impending engagement.

"Look's like you've got me by a little bit." Trunks said, his golden aura still pulsating around him.

Goten cracked a smile, "I wasn't gonna say anything."

Trunks relaxed, causing his hair to turn from it's bright gold color to a white blonde. His power dropped slightly, and his aura faded as his power stabilized. "But you can't do this, can you?" Trunks asked, a half smile appearing on his face, now.

"I don't know what that is," Goten replied, relaxing and allowing his aura to calm slightly, though his hair stayed it's golden color and the light off his body continued to pulsate, "You're still a Super Saiyan, but you're weaker now. You should go back to the way you were."

Trunks chuckled slightly, "Let me worry about that. You didn't do much training as a Super Saiyan did you?"

"No, Master Krillin wouldn't let me." Goten said, "I was almost always just regular, that's how you build the most strength. You should have, too, you were stronger than me when we fought last time."

"You're strong, no doubt about it." Trunks said, "But I like my chances. Whenever you're ready."

"You got it!" Goten said, and the two broke down into classic stances.

Gohan found Videl and backed over to her, keeping a close eye on the ring. "THAT'S a perfected Super Saiyan." He said, motioning toward Trunks.

"So what does that mean? Is Trunks stronger?" she asked.

"That's the weird thing, he's not. All the Super Saiyan form does is amplify whatever power you already had; perfecting the form doesn't make you stronger, it just puts you in total control so you don't waste any energy. When me and Dad learned how to do it we were already so much stronger than Vegeta and Trunks that it didn't matter, but Goten's base form is stronger than Trunks's. I don't even know what to make of this!"

Goten made the first move of the final match, sparking his power back up and charging forward with his right fist drawn back. Trunks watched as he closed in, still bent down in his crouched position, before sparking his aura back to it's golden color and firing out to meet him at the last possible moment. The two launched into a furious flurry of punches and kicks, trading evenly for a long while, before Trunks finally gave ground as Goten continued to press his assault.

Trunks held his own in the exchange, but Goten had gained the advantage, forcing Trunks to the edge of the ring and up into the air while they continued to trade blows. Feeling the need to change the momentum, Trunks took a chance and fired a wild overhand blow intended for the side of Goten's head. Goten saw the move coming, and made him pay. He spun to Trunks's left, deftly dodging the punch and forcing Trunks to overextend. With his opponent vulnerable, Goten continued his spin, raising his left leg high and, in one smooth motion, sending a full roundhouse kick directly into Trunks's back. The blow sent him firing diagonally back to the ring below, head first. Trunks free fell for quite a while, but regained control and flipped upright, and began to descend feet-first.

Goten was hot on his trail, however, intent on pressing his advantage. Trunks hit the ground and fired out to the side, and Goten crashed directly where Trunks had landed a split second before and gave chase. Trunks turned tail as if to run away as Goten sped wildly after him, quickly closing the gap. As he reached his target, he threw a devastating right hook at Trunks's head, only to wiff wildly. Trunks had regained his composure and, noticing Goten's overzealous approach, had baited the blow. At the last second, he ducked down and phased to the side, catching Goten in the same overextended position he had been caught in moments earlier.

Goten saw the blow coming, but there was little he could do to stop it. Trunks thrust his hands out and shoved Goten with all his might, emitting a massive explosion of golden light as he pushed. As a technique, it was identical to the blast he had levied against Okami; in terms of power, there was no comparison.

Goten was cleanly broadsided by the blast and sent tumbling through the air just off the arena floor. As he approached the edge, he rolled to a position parallel with the ring and descended, causing dust on the surface of the tile to billow around him as he slowed his momentum with his feet and one hand, the other stuck up behind him to regain his balance.

The crowd roared with approval at the flurry of activity, but the action didn't subside, yet. Seeing his opponent on his heels, Trunks began rapid-firing energy blasts at Goten from either hand as his slide finally came to a stop. Goten fired off the arena floor directly into the teeth of the attack, phasing in and out, dodging most of the blasts and swatting away any that were on the mark. Gohan phased into the path of the attack and collected any stray rays well before they reached the crowd.

Seeing the distance coming to a close, Trunks lessened the pace of his blasts and increased their power, switching from the machinegun push-fire method he had been using and began throwing large blasts one after another, overhanded in a windmill-like motion, in high-octane succession. Each blast carried the potential for heavy destruction.

Goten saw the change in tactic and responded accordingly. He stopped his charge and set his feet, drawing his hands to his hip as the blasts hurtled toward him. Without a word, a massive blue orb formed between his palms, and he quickly fired it into the path of Trunks's attack with a "rrrAAAAHHHH".

The wave tore through the series of blasts and careened toward Trunks, completely caught off guard by the speed the Kamehameha had been produced. Without the time to retreat or summon his own attack, Trunks was forced to try to block the wave. He set his feet and threw out his hands as the wave washed over him.

The wave engulfed Trunks's body and continued on it's path toward the crowd beyond, though significantly weakened from the brunt Trunks had taken. The blast closed in on Krillin's side of the arena, and he squared to face it head on, joined quickly by Tien and Yamcha on either side. Together, the three threw their arms out and caught it in their hands, and struggled against it's force for several seconds as Goten continued to pour energy into the attack. Finally, they gained enough control to redirect the wave and threw their hands up, turning the wave harmlessly up into the sky.

Goten finally relented on the attack and stopped to catch his breath as the smoke cleared around Trunks. Sweat was pouring from his temples, his left side burned from the brunt of Trunk's blast, and he was winded, but he was sure Trunks would be much worse for wear.

When the smoke finally cleared, his suspicions were confirmed. Unable to redirect the blast, Trunks had ducked his head and crossed his arms over his face, attempting to weather the storm. He had succeeded, but at a price. He was visibly shaking from the effort of keeping his feet while taking a Kamehameha Wave head-on, and was covered in black marks across his body. His back had developed a massive welp from swelling in the wake of Goten's kick, and his shirt was badly torn in several places. He finally dropped his arms and locked eyes with Goten. Goten wore a calm, stoic expression; Trunks a look of raw anger.

Trunks took a deep breath and calmed himself, forcing his mind to avoid slipping into the senseless rage it desperately wanted to venture into. He had clearly taken the worst of the exchange, having only landed one meaningful blow on his opponent. He noticed, however, that Goten was breathing just as heavily as he was. Goten was extremely powerful, but stamina was clearly becoming an issue for him; in terms of conditioning and control, Trunks was clearly superior. Fighting head-on was not an option; he had tried several times in the exchange to spike his attacks at opportune times, but Goten always reached into the well and found enough energy to neutralize his strikes. His one success had come by outsmarting his opponent; that would have to be the key, he reasoned.

Goten was strategizing as well. Trunks was strong, but not nearly strong enough to match him in a brawl or beam struggle. His tenacity had paid off, too: the Kamehameha Wave he had worked so hard to set up had significantly weakened Trunks, and though it had come at a high price to his own energy, another blast might be enough to keep his opponent down for good. No doubt Trunks would resort to more traps and odd strategies, but he was clearly winning thus far. He was tiring, but had not nearly reached his limit. If he kept his head about him, the fight was his.

The crowd erupted at the temporary cease-fire, anxious to let their approval be heard. Chi Chi and Bulma had slipped into hysteria, giving 18 all she could handle to keep them apart. Piccolo, the only ringside protector to not be involved in the action thus far, stood with his arms cross, taking in every move the two fighters made, judging them meticulously.

As the Announcer egged the crowd on to a fever-pitch, Goten and Trunks wordlessly collapsed back into their stances and prepared for another round.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Coronation

Goten moved first again, barreling forward with his fist drawn back in anticipation of another physical exchange. Trunks set his feet and threw his right arm forward, extending his pointer finger.

"DODON!" He yelled, as a thin ray of red light fired from his fingertip directly at Goten's forehead.

Goten started to swat the beam away, but thought better of it at the last moment, throwing his body sideways and allowing the beam to pass by harmlessly, but stopping his forward momentum.

The beam carried on toward the crowd, where Piccolo stepped in to stop it. He soon realized the danger of his effort, however, when he sensed the intensity of the energy in the ray. He bared his teeth and dug in his heels as he prepared to attempt to deflect it, but before he had the chance, Gohan phased in front of him and backhanded it high into the sky.

"Thanks, Gohan." Piccolo said, "He put something extra into that one."

"Don't mention it." Gohan said with a smile, before returning his attention to the ring.

With Goten off course, Trunks shot out his arms and quickly sprouted two new ones out of his shoulder blades, but didn't press an attack. Goten redirected his trajectory and charged again, bound and determined to land another devastating blow on his opponent.

Trunks didn't engage openly, instead opting to go into a backpedal and, after Goten closed in enough to launch into another flurry of punches and kicks, levitated into the air. By using all four arms for defense and maintaining as much distance as possible, Trunks did everything in his power to avoid taking damage from his stronger, faster opponent. For his part, Goten continued to press forward, launching punches and kicks with vicious ferocity, determined to find a hole in the defense.

Slowly but surely, Trunks's plan fell into place. Goten pressed forward harder and harder, but thanks to Trunks's new arms and defensive mindset, he was able to avoid any serious damage. The new arms had cost him energy to create, but not nearly as much as the effort of the assault was causing Goten.

Finally, satisfied that his opponent was sufficiently slowed, Trunks countered. Goten fired a massive uppercut, but Trunks, by using both of his left arms, was able to swat it off course and across his body, opening Goten's chin. Trunks took advantage of the moment and caught Goten with a stiff jab with his natural right arm, followed by a hard elbow to the back of Goten's neck with his new one.

Goten went crashing toward the ground, and Trunks gave chase, catching him on his way down and driving him down even faster by grasping each of Goten's triceps with his new arms and placing his natural ones in the center of Goten's back, intent on slamming him through the tile floor below.

Goten, with no way to change direction and no use of his arms, realized he would once again have to find a creative way to stop his momentum. His mouth blast, he knew, would not be nearly enough. Instead, he forced his hips below his body until he was in a seated position with his feet pointing toward the ring, and desperately yelled:

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The familiar blue light shot out from his feet and crashed through the arena floor below, destroying the right half of it on impact. The two fighters hung in the air, Goten firing vigourously to stop his momentum, and Trunks, still pushing him from behind, trying to drive him into the teeth of his own blast. The result was a mid-air stalemate, both fighters struggling and driving their bodies through gritted teeth.

Finally, Trunks saw the futility of his effort and opted for another path. He grabbed Goten and spun him upside down, dive-bombing both their bodies toward the ground, head first. Out of shock, Goten stopped the blast, but managed to slip his left arm loose in the process. He used it to lock around Trunks's neck, intent on making sure his assailant would share any damage he took in the crash.

Trunks was caught off guard by the grasp, however, and took one of his arms off of Goten's back to remove the lock. He succeeded, but felt himself quickly losing control of Goten's momentum, as Goten began to wriggle free from his grasp. Out of desperation, he quickly grabbed Goten as best he could, and hurled him toward the ground headfirst some fifty feet below.

Goten landed on the left, undamaged side of the arena and covered his head with his arms. He fired through the ring like a diver through the water, creating a massive hole in the concrete floor and disappearing from sight. Tile and dust exploded around the crater as Trunks landed safely on the ring and waited to see if his opponent would reappear, his two new arms dispersing as he settled.

"Goten!" Chi Chi screamed, lurching forward. The entire cast of Kame House wrestled her back into her seat, as 18 assured her Goten was all right.

The Announcer was unsure of what to do. By now, he knew better than to assume a fighter of Goten's caliber was dead after the crash, so there would be no disqualification of Trunks, he reasoned. Technically, Goten was outside of the ring, but that was the fault of the Tournament for not creating a stronger floor, despite their best efforts; as competitive as the fight had been thus far, he wasn't about to end it on a technicality like that. That left only one option:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Goten is down!" He yelled, "I'll begin the count! 1! 2! 3!..."

"You can go ahead and stop counting." Trunks said.

"What?" The Announcer asked.

"Goten's fine, I didn't throw him near as hard as I meant to. He'll be up in a second."

As if on cue, Goten fired back up out of the hole and landed across from Trunks, covered in dirt and fresh cuts. "Nearly got me that time." He said between deep panting breaths.

"Almost, but I will get you next time." Trunks said flatly, "Like I said, you're strong, but you waste too much energy. You might still have more power now, but you're already getting tired and starting to telegraph your moves. It's just a matter of time 'til I'm stronger, and when that happens, the fight's over. I'm not bragging, it's just the truth."

"We'll see." Goten said, still struggling to catch his breath. He examined Trunks, who was clearly weakened from the energy he had used in the exchange, but was holding up well, all things considered. Most of all, Goten felt his energy; how despite his Super Saiyan form, it flowed out so smoothly, and even in combat remained controlled and measured, only spiking at the exact moment of his attacks. "If he can do that, so can I." he thought to himself.

Trunks, seeing Goten's struggle to regain his stamina, quickly ran through another round of strategy options. He briefly considered the multiform technique, but remembered Tien telling him about Krillin's scatter blast. That could prove troublesome, and the energy it would take for a special technique could prove costly. Instead, he opted for simplicity and charged forward. This time, it was Goten on the defensive, backpedaling and blocking every blow Trunks threw his way. Trunks pressed forward, looking to take control of the match, while Goten tried desperately to keep his composure. Trunks's pursuit went on for the better part of a minute, registering several blows of moderate damage, particularly to Goten's core, but nothing that stood to drastically change the battle.

Trunks was still pressing on, when he noticed something strange. Goten's energy was fading much slower than it had been before, and he was faring better the longer the exchange went on. He even felt some of his opponent's energy appearing to return to him, even as he pressed his assault. "No way." Trunks thought to himself.

As the thought crossed Trunks's mind, Goten landed his first counterpunch of the exchange, a stiff hook to Trunks's kidney, causing him to wince in pain. Trunks thrust both hands forward, firing a powerful Kiai into Goten's chest to force him away. Goten crossed his arms and blocked the attack, and went into a powerful slide across the arena floor, stopping his momentum well short of the edge. The two stood and examined one another again, and Trunks's face fell into a furious grimace as his suspicions were confirmed. Upon relaxing, Goten's aura disappeared, and his hair settled from it's golden glow into a calm white blonde hue.

"No way!" Trunks yelled in disbelief, "That's impossible! It took me months to get that down, now you just come out and do it!?"

"Do what?" Goten asked, genuinely confused at the outburst. After all, he had lost the majority of the exchange.

"Hey, Goten!" Gohan yelled from beside the ring, "That's what being a Super Saiyan's supposed to look like! Great job!"

"Huh?" Goten asked, "All I did was make my energy like Trunks's, I don't know what you guys are talking about."

Piccolo raised his brow in disbelief. "Did he just perfect the form mid-battle?" he said, struggling to believe his eyes.

"I'm not gonna take this!" Trunks yelled again, unable to stop himself from slipping into rage this time, "If I can't wear you down, fine! I'll just blow you away! This ends now!"

Goten jumped back into his stance, but to his surprise, Trunks didn't reach for an unusual technique or a reckless charge. Instead, he made the first move by levitating high into the air, creating as much space as possible between the two. Goten stayed planted on the arena floor, wary of any trap Trunks might be planning.

Trunks looked down and remembered the story Tien had told him about destroying the arena floor the year he won the tournament. A Super Saiyan-powered Kikoho would surely be enough to end the match in one blast, he thought.

"No Kikoho? Fine." He said to himself, "Doesn't mean I can't take this whole place out if I want to."

Goten, still with his light blonde hair, looked up into the sky and watched as Trunks arched his back and flexed his muscles. Trunks looked to be violently exerting himself, much to Goten's confusion, until he felt his power spike.

"Trunks! What're you doing?" Goten yelled up into the sky.

"There's still…one form…you don't know!" Trunks yelled back between grunts. Sweat poured down his face and his muscles stretched and bulged, turning his body into a massive, hulking figure. He pumped more and more energy into his muscles, until he looked for all the world like a monster, much to Goten's horror. Suddenly, his hair stiffened and blew outward, and his power erupted as he yelled:

"FULL POWER!"

"What?!" Goten yelled, and fired his own energy to it's height, his hair returning to it's golden color and his aura pulsating around him. He yelled loudly into the sky and flexed every muscle in his body as he attempted to match Trunks's power, but for all his effort, he found himself dwarfed by his opponent's newfound strength.

"Goten!" Gohan was yelling desperately from the ringside, his pretense of impartiality now completely thrown out the window, "He's too slow to fight you like this! Go get him before he fires!"

"Too late!" Trunks yelled down from the sky above the arena, "Get ready, Goten! This is it!" He thrust his hands downward to his hips in front of his body with his palms together, parallel to his shoulders, and yelled again:

"FI-NAL FLAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"

"Trunks stop!" Tien was screaming, "You're aiming at the planet! It's too much!"

It was to no avail. A massive flood of golden light exploded from Trunks's palms and careened like a freight train to the ring below. Goten set his feet and looked up, desperate for a way out. To his horror, he was too late; the blast was far larger than the dimensions of the ring, and his hesitation had cost him valuable time, as the blast was now nearly upon him. His only option was to return fire.

"KA-ME-HA-ME-HAAAAAAAAA!"

Goten fired with every ounce of energy he had, releasing a massive blue wave that met Trunk's blast some forty feet above the arena floor. The two massive beams crashed with a loud hiss and a loud roar as a blinding flash engulfed the stadium, as the two fighters poured everything they had into their attacks.

Soon, Trunks's blast had gained an advantage. It slowly began pressing down toward the arena around Goten, stopping only ten feet above the wild-haired fighter, where it was held for the moment by the source bulb of Goten's blast.

"It's over Goten! Give up! I don't wanna hurt you!" Trunks was yelling through laborious breaths, his massive arms shaking with the effort of the blast. Goten didn't respond, but gritted his teeth and held his arms aloft, trying desperately to overtake the struggle.

"I'm going in!" Gohan yelled from beside the ground behind Goten, where he had shot to intercept Trunks's blast had Goten been unable to hold it. He went to jump into the arena, only to be pulled back in by Piccolo. "What are you doing? Let me go!" he yelled.

"No! This is more important to their growth than anything they've ever done, let them finish their fight!" Piccolo barked back.

"Do you feel that blast?!" Gohan was screaming, completely devoid of the respectful tone he usually carried for Piccolo. "If Goten wasn't blocking it, it could blow through the whole planet! Goten can't hold out much longer, he could die under that thing!"

"That's not going to happen!"

"What if it does?!"

"Then we'll wish him back! He hasn't died yet!" Piccolo screamed, causing Gohan to completely drop his rage in favor of shock in the face of what he had just heard.

"You'd let my brother die, just for a training match?" Gohan asked softly, the battle still raging behind him.

"No." Piccolo said, clearly trying to recover from his outburst. "But as long as he's on his feet, we don't interfere. He's too important to coddle, Gohan. Stop treating him like he's a helpless child; he's a warrior. Have some faith in your brother! Let him finish his fight!"

Gohan was unsettled, but strangely calmed by the resoluteness in Piccolo's voice. He turned, and passively watched the struggle, his heart threatening to pound out of his chest.

Goten was barely hanging on, having dropped to one knee and barely holding his hands above his head. His roaring blast had been reduced to a wide shield, continuously pummeled by Trunks's incredible wave. His shoulders burned hot and tired from the strain of lifting and pushing his arms against the force for so long, and his energy was quickly dwindling from the pressure of contending with Trunks's incredible power.

"Goten…give…up!" Trunks was yelling again. He never relented on his wave, but pressed forward with everything he had, prepared to engulf his friend even as he desperately wished he would surrender.

"Dig deep, Goten!" Gohan was yelling, "There's more in you than this! You can find it! Come on!"

"Come on, Goten!" Krillin screamed, rushing to Gohan's side so Goten could hear him. "You're Goku's son! You've got it in you! Let it out!"

Goten braced himself as Trunks's wave lurched again, drawing in only inches above his hands as he pressed against it. He could feel the heat from beam hot on his palms and face, and his vision began to blacken around the edges until he could only see the blinding light from the blasts. He began to see flashes of the past three years: His father finally coming to meet him, and demonstrating more power than he had ever imagined possible; his time as Gotenks, when he, along with Trunks, had channeled that power himself; the monster, Buu, who had so mercilessly murdered his mother and friends, and the battle he had endured with that monster; Gohan's battle with Buu, when he had dwarfed all of those powers with such confident ease. Every lap, every sparring match, every ounce of sweat and drop of blood and pool of vomit he had shed the last three years only to end up caved beneath the power of the one man he had given it all to beat.

"No." he whispered, an eerie calm encasing his body.

Goten felt a heat deep in the pit of his stomach. A small knot at first, like the pit of a peach, then a larger orb. Suddenly it was running through his veins and encasing his entire body in it's warmth, pulsating and charging with power he'd never had before. His hair grew stiffer and shot taller, and lightning pulsated across his body. Finally, the heat reached up his arms and pooled in his hands, and waited to be released.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Goten rose back to his feet and thrust his arms back to their full length as his blast found renewed strength, vigorously clashing with Trunks's massive beam before driving it back to it's source, slowly at first, but building speed with each passing second.

"WHAT?!" Trunks yelled, and poured everything he had to stop the newly turned momentum with a loud "YAHHHHHHHH!"

It was to no avail, though. The Kamehameha was slowed for a moment but quickly built speed again drawing into Trunks's hands until his blast, like Goten's before, was reduced to a widened shield.

"Goten...what...are you?" he asked through gritted teeth, well out of earshot of everyone. He felt the power in his body eclipsed, his vision began to close in, and he remembered his father. How he had pushed himself for all the years he had known him, and many years before that, beyond what even the world's greatest warriors could ever imagine, and how he was always, always, one step behind his greatest rival. How he had carried a mountain of a chip on his shoulder beneath an indomitable pride his entire life, and how he had given his life to save the world twice, to no avail, without fear or reservation. How he was remembered by so many who knew him as the one who was almost powerful enough. And how he, Trunks, the son of the Saiyan prince, had spent three long years giving everything he had to redeem that legacy, only to be overtaken by an inferior fighter with a flippant demeanor and unimaginable talent.

Trunks's energy failed as the Kamehameha Wave overtook him, engulfing his body and driving him high into the air. As he faded out of consciousness, Trunks spoke in his mind: "Father...was this your struggle?"

Goten felt the pressure release from the far end of his blast and knew it had reached it's mark. He fired for one more second to make sure the battle was won, and then released, desperately wanting to keep Trunks alive and wanting even more desperately to breathe. He dropped to his hands and knees and his hair drooped and darkened around him, as sweat flooded from every pore of his body and off the tips of his hair. His arms shook with the weight of his body, but he held there, and, with great effort, lifted his head to find Trunks in the sky.

He found him falling headfirst toward the ground, his hair purple and his muscles reduced to their natural proportions. His eyes were shut, his shirt had been completely blown off, and his pants were tattered and flailing in the wind. His body was covered in soot and scuffs from the burn of the blast, and his energy had been reduced to a trickle, in stark contrast to the incredible power he had displayed just moments before. Goten started to rise to his feet to meet him in the air, but found he lacked the strength to do little more than stagger to one knee.

Tien bolted from his position on the side of the ring and intercepted Trunks's path, catching him in both arms and slowly lowering him to the ground, where he gently laid him in what was left of the grass around the periphery of the arena. Trunks breathed in short, quick breaths without moving, and never opened his eyes.

Thirty seconds of stunned silence fell over the stadium. Neither the masters, nor the competitors, nor the Announcer, nor the crowd issued a word as they attempted to comprehend what they had just seen. And then, as if resuscitated back to life by a defibrillator, the crowd erupted. Chaos ensued as the crowd roared their approval. The Announcer tried to speak, attempting to restore order at first, then to declare a champion over the ruckus, but his microphone was too weak to be heard over the bustle. Finally, he dropped the microphone and stepped onto the stage, where Goten sat on one knee.

The Announcer took Goten's right wrist and raised it as high into the air as Goten could reach, sparking the crowd into hysteria. Goten smiled, fell forward, and lost consciousness, facedown on the arena floor.

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hey, everyone. So if you've made it this far, you've made it to the conclusion of the first arc. Hopefully you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I'm very new to this, so I don't really know what constitutes a successful story, but from what I've been able to gather, we're off to a pretty good start. I really appreciate that._

 _So let's take a second to talk about what's happened so far and where we're going. If you haven't figured it out, this is an AU that, basically, explores where Dragonball might have gone had Toriyama not opted to pull the rug out from under Goku and Vegeta's sons midway through the Buu arc. As such,_ _this is probably the only strictly-original arc I'll write. I started with this one because I felt it was the best way to establish the changes in character that are happening (Gohan feeling responsible for the Earth's safety, Trunks becoming resentful, Piccolo becoming paranoid, etc.), but I think it's best that I stick to some form of Dragonball material going forward, at least from a premise perspective._

 _That does_ _ **not**_ _mean that future arcs will be simple retellings of the source material with different heroes. I reserve the right, and fully intend, to deviate drastically from that material in terms of things like, but not limited to, the timing of events, character personalities, and perhaps most notably, "power levels". I intend to use the source material as a starting point and deviate from there according to how I want the story to go, what makes sense in this continuity, and, frankly, what keeps me interested, because I think that's what's going to create the best story possible. I promise to do my best to justify any and all changes I make in a way that makes logical, believable sense within the context of_ _ **this story**_ _._

 _The last thing, some of you may have noticed, is the cover photo for this story. Goten and Trunks are both older than that now and Gohan, at this point in the story, at least, always has black hair, whether in or out of battle. So, while the picture does feature the three characters that I've focused on the most thus far, it's not really accurate. If anybody knows of a more appropriate one, or, hey, if anybody wants to draw one, please let me know. For whatever reason, it bothers me._

 _So that's it! The next chapter will be the aftermath of this arc/the beginning of the next one. I'm really excited about the potential of the story as I have it in my head, so hopefully I do it justice. Thanks for all the kind words in the comments, share the story anywhere you can if you're so inclined, and if there's any other questions/clarifications anyone needs addressed, feel free to comment or message me and I'll be happy to clear them up._

 _Thanks for reading!_

 _\- SlotT7_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Targeted

Goten cracked open his eyes to find himself flying through the air, slung over Krillin's shoulders like a heavy load. He looked over to see Trunks, still unconscious, hanging over one of Tien's shoulders. Gohan, Videl, and Piccolo flew ahead of the group, and when he found the strength to turn his head, he saw that Yamcha and the Wolf School students were trailing behind. They were flying at a leisurely pace, and the lull of the ride calmed him, so he drooped his head and returned to his slumber.

The next time he awoke, Dende's hands were on his chest, emitting dull, pulsating waves, returning strength to his body. He sat up and found Trunks already on his feet, separated from the group talking to Tien, still in his tattered pants but wearing his cape over his bare chest. Krillin and Gohan greeted him upon awakening.

"There he is!" Krillin said, startling Goten slightly, "Man, Goten, that was amazing! I knew you had it in you!"

"Yeah!" Gohan piled on, "I told you there was still some power in you! That was incredible!"

Goten kept his eyes fixed on Trunks, straining to hear the conversation, but they were too far out of earshot for him to hear.

"You're being unreasonable, Trunks." Tien said, trying to calm his agitated student.

"I had him! If I'd used the Kikoho there's no way he would've found that power in time! Or if I'd just blasted him sooner!" Trunks was venting.

"Maybe. And maybe you would've killed him." Tien was saying, "Or blown a hole through the Earth. Or maybe he would've adjusted anyway. There's no way to know, Trunks. Stop blaming yourself, you fought an incredible fight. I'm very proud of you."

"This is your fault too, you know!" Trunks burst, in an effort to shift the blame from himself to his master, not to Tien's surprise. "We wasted all that time working on technique and control and all that trash! I could've been getting stronger like Goten! Then he wouldn't have passed me!"

"You gained strength, and more will come." Tien said, still not raising his voice, "You've laid a great foundation with your training these last three years, now you'll be able to harness all the power as you develop it. Your career as a martial artist is much bigger than one fight, especially one as closely contested as that one."

"You bet it is." Trunks said as he turned to walk away, "'Cuz I'm never losing again."

Trunks walked toward the side of the Lookout and was preparing to fly away when Piccolo called out:

"Not yet, Trunks! We've got some talking to do first!"

Trunks scowled and balled his fists, but complied, and walked back to the group. He and Goten kept their distance, clearly unsure of how to relate following their battle.

"Now listen up, both of you." Piccolo began as everyone gathered around him, "We explicitly said not to let your fight get out of hand. You failed. You were reckless out there. Especially you, Trunks."

Trunks never broke eye contact with the Namek despite the daggers Piccolo was staring through him.

"That said," Piccolo continued, "you both fought valiantly; for that, I'm proud. I had planned on taking you two in as my own students so you could train together if you impressed me, but I've decided against it."

Goten's face drooped into a frown, while Trunk's stayed in the stoic, dissatisfied look it was already bearing.

"That won't be necessary." Piccolo said, relieving both the students and their masters, "You two are much farther along than I'd expected. You don't need a master now; you'll go much further if you go out into the world and find your challenges yourselves. Go together if you'd like, or don't, but whenever your paths cross, test each other. The Earth's safety is dependent your improvement.

"Now, about the rest of y-" Piccolo broke his speech off as his head snapped to attention. He wordlessly blasted into the air and away from the Lookout, calling back over his shoulder, "Gohan! With me!" And then kicked to full speed off into the distance.

"What's going on?" Videl asked.

"I don't know, but I better go. You all stay here." And Gohan fired away after him.

"What was that all about?" Krillin was asking.

"Yeah, what happened?" Yamcha asked, as the Wolf Students exchanged murmurs and confused glances.

"If you'll all quiet down we might find out." Tien said. He and Trunks had walked to the edge of the Lookout on the side where Piccolo had flown, and closed their eyes in deep concentration. Momentarily, they returned to the group.

"There's a substantial power off in the distance." Tien said, "It's nothing Piccolo can't handle, but it's unfamiliar. He's gone to check it out."

"All that just for some energy he didn't recognize?" Hammur asked.

"You don't get it." Trunks said, irritated at Hammur's ignorance. "We know every strong fighter on Earth, but not that one. That means it's probably either a new threat or it's from some other planet."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the sky turned completely black.

Gohan caught up to Piccolo just as the sky darkened. "What's going on, Piccolo?" he asked.

"Someone's summoned Shenron." He replied flatly, "I don't like their energy. Fly ahead, I'll catch up!"

Gohan nodded and fired on ahead, still a great distance from the source of the power.

"Speak! What is your wish?" Shenron asked impatiently as ever as he towered over the tiny blue alien.

Sorbet relished the moment and raised both his hands and his voice for dramatic effect. "I wish for Freeza!" he screamed, "Bring him back to life!"

Drops of the flayed tyrant fell from the sky into a pile at Sorbet's feet.

"Now, what is your second wish?" Shenron bellowed.

"Second wish?" Sorbet said to himself, "With that, we could return King Cold to life as well!"

Suddenly, Tagoma's scouter activated, climbing at a rate he had never seen before and beeping frantically.

"Sir!" he yelled, "It's the Saiyans! They're closing in fast, we have to go now!"

"Well start the ship! I've still got a wish to make!" Sorbet yelled back.

Tagoma's scouter continued to escalate, sounding off at an alarming rate, "Sir you don't understand! They're closing in too fast, they'll be on us any second! There's no time for the ship, we have to go!"

Sorbet squinted his eyes and gritted his teeth, "Errrrrrrr, fine! Shenron! Return Tagoma, myself, and Freeza to the mothership at once!"

"Very well." The dragon responded, and the trio vanished into thin air.

Gohan arrived only moments later, and hit behind a boulder while he scouted the terrain. A short time later, Piccolo joined him at his side. To their surprise, Shenron remained in the sky.

"Must've left in a hurry." Gohan said, stepping out of his hiding place. "They didn't even use their last wish."

Piccolo jumped down to the ground where the Dragonballs were glowing, and looked up at Shenron. "Shenron, who summoned you?" he asked.

"Strangers from another planet." Shenron boomed, "They wished for Freeza's body."

"Just his body?" Gohan asked.

"They wished for his return to the living world." Shenron returned, "I could not restore his body, but he is living within those pieces of flesh."

Piccolo was in a full panic, "Shenron! Tell me everything you know about those strangers!"

"You ask too much. Allow me to return to my slumber, and I will show you."

"Yes! Show me!"

"Very well." Shenron said as he began to fade away, "This knowledge shall be your final wish."

Shenron disappeared and the Dragon Balls floated into the air, firing off in every direction as the sky cleared. Piccolo caught his breath as the vision filled his mind, and stood frozen for several seconds with a far away look in his eyes.

"What is it, Piccolo?" Gohan asked.

Piccolo snapped out of his trance and screamed primaly into the air. "No! They've been watching us right under my nose! I shouldn't have let my guard down!"

"Piccolo, tell me what's going on!" Gohan yelled, clearly alarmed.

"We've got to get to the Lookout, I'll tell you on the way. Let's go!" Piccolo barked as he fired into the air. Gohan followed close behind, more nervous than he had been in years.

Back on the Lookout, the group was anxiously awaiting news.

"Well, Shenron's gone." Krillin said.

"So is the stranger." Tien said, "Gohan and Piccolo are coming back now. We'll know something soon."

The next guests to arrive however, were the audience from the tournament, who landed a large jet car with the Capsule Corporation logo on the far side of the Lookout. Bulma and Chi Chi poured out first, followed by the rest of the familiar group.

Once Bulma and Chi Chi had been reassured that Trunks and Goten were alive and well, much to their dismay, Bulma spoke up. "Hey, did you guys just make a wish? I don't have my radar with me but it sure looked like somebody summoned Shenron."

"Someone did." Krillin said, "Piccolo and Gohan went to check it out, they're on their way back now."

Soon after, Piccolo touched down on the tile and stormed into the middle of the group, his cape billowing behind him as he paced. He never broke stride as he crashed through the middle of the pack toward the palace.

"Dende! Popo! 18! Anyone who thinks they might be a warrior! On me, now! Everyone else, stay put!"

"I'll watch Maron." Chi Chi said to 18, as she, Roshi, and Chiaotzu left the group of audience members to join the tournament group in a trail behind Piccolo. Gohan drug behind, apologizing for Piccolo's rudeness. "You better come too, Bulma." He said as he passed. She obliged.

Inside the palace dining room, Piccolo shoved the chair at the head of the table aside and stood in it's place, leaning forward with his hands on the table as the group spilled into the room, some sitting around the table, others staying on their feet around the perimeter of the room.

"What I say here does not leave this room." Piccolo said firmly, regaining a modicum of his composure. "The last thing we need is a panic."

"What's going on, Piccolo?" Bulma asked, more than a tinge of fear in her voice.

"Freeza has been brought back to life." He said, his spine crawling as he uttered the words.

"Well, hang on, Piccolo." Gohan said, attempting to qualify the statement. "Shenron said he's alive, but his body's still in pieces. We don't know that he's actually a threat."

"You think they'd leave if they couldn't revive him!?" Piccolo barked. "They have the technology to completely reassemble him. This was calculated. They've had spy drones around the Earth for years now. Before we fought Buu, even."

"Who's 'they'?" Yamcha asked.

"The remnants of Freeza's army. They've been waiting for an opportunity to steal the Dragon Balls. They even knew where they all were, but I always checked out any disturbing energy before they could collect them. And then I finally dropped my guard for a stupid tournament!" He pounded the table with the last word.

"How do you know all this?" Krillin asked.

Piccolo gathered himself before responding, "The stronger one's scouter picked up on Gohan approaching and they fled before they could make their last wish. I used it to get this information from Shenron. If not for Gohan, we'd have King Cold to deal with, too."

"Hang on, Piccolo." Gohan broke in again, still trying to neutralize the tension. "You didn't see anything about them wanting to attack the Earth, did you?"

"No, that's true." He replied, "Their intention is to rebuild his army and take control of the galaxy again. Their leader doesn't want any part of us, thanks to our Super Saiyans. But Freeza will want revenge, I'm sure of it."

"Hey, what's the big deal?" Krillin asked, finally feeling at ease enough to speak his mind. "Look, Freeza's a lot stronger than most of us, but he's no threat to Gohan. Heck, he's no threat to you either, Piccolo. I mean, sure, we should be ready, but there's no reason to panic."

"Maybe." This time it was Gohan speaking plainly, "But for a monster like Freeza, there's no telling what he's capable of now that he has a a real motive to attack. We better treat this seriously."

"So what do we do?" Tien asked, ever the pragmatist.

Piccolo spoke up again, "Dende. Get in touch with King Kai. We're going to need all the information we can get."

"I'll try." Dende responded, "But I don't know how much he'll help."

"He's in charge of the whole galaxy's wellbeing, I'm sure he's just as alarmed about Freeza's return as we are." Piccolo retorted. "Popo, help Dende any way you can. You two need to repair the door to the Time Chamber as quickly as possible. I have a feeling we're going to need it.

"Everyone else, do whatever you have to do to prepare. I don't know if we have days or years, but be ready. This is every bit as dire as the Android attack was."

18 bristled at the remark, but kept her silence.

"What about you, Mister Piccolo?" Goten asked.

"I'll stay here with Dende and try to piece together a plan. I need information first; when I have some, you'll all hear from me. Goten, Trunks: nothing changes about what I said earlier. Go out and get ready; do whatever it takes. We're going to need you."

Piccolo walked out of the room, as a nervous chatter broke out amongst it's remaining members. Bulma walked over to Gohan.

"Hey, why'd you bring me in? I'm no fighter." She said.

"Well, for starters, we need to do something about those drones." He replied, "But mostly, I figured you'd better be up to date on the information. I'm sure we're gonna need that brain of yours more than once before this is over."

Bulma smiled at the comment, "Well, I'll be ready. Don't worry about the drones, I'll get right on it."

The Wolf Students gathered around Yamcha. "So what should we do, Master Yamcha?" Gorra asked.

"Well, let me think." Yamcha said, before pausing for a moment. "You guys are all pretty close in power, and you've had plenty of practice making Okami, so as long as you guys get together every once in a while to brush up on the Fusion Dance, we shouldn't risk losing him. We've gotta get you guys stronger as individuals if you're gonna be able to give us any real help, though…"

"You've got too many students for one master." Tien said, walking into the conversation. "They need more personal training if they're going to improve."

"Hey, I'm open to some help if you're offering." He replied with a smile.

"I am." Tien said, "My student graduated, I need a new one, anyway. I'd like to work with Nein if you don't mind; I have a lot of questions about our clan."

"So you are the Shinhan who won the tournament years ago." Nein responded, "If you can do for me what you did for Trunks, count me in."

Tien smiled and nodded as Krillin approached the group.

"Hey, I lost my student, too!" he said, "Didn't you say one of these guys is from my old temple, Yamcha?"

"Yeah! That'd be Naken; how bout it man?" He asked the bald teenager.

"Of course." He replied, "Master Krillin is famous at our temple. It would be a great honor."

"You're kidding." 18 said, eavesdropping from a few feet away.

"Well guys, I guess that leaves you two with me!" Yamcha said to Hammur and Gorra.

"Actually, Master Yamcha, I would prefer to go out alone for a while." Gorra said shyly, "I'd like to return to my tribe and attempt to climb Korin's Tower. If I can do that, I'm sure he will train me as well as any human master."

"Can't say I blame you for that. Good luck, I guess!" Yamcha replied, "Hammur, you're staying with me, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Hammur replied excitedly, "You're still the strongest one to ever come out of the Wolf School, I want to learn everything I can from you."

As they walked outside the palace, Videl turned to Gohan, "So," she began, "ready to train me?"

"Geeze, I don't know…" he responded, "Don't you think that'd be weird? Plus you already know how to fight, you just need to train with somebody strong enough to push you, it doesn't have to be me..."

"Well who then?" she snipped back, "There's nobody else left."

Gohan looked around nervously, unenthused with his options. "Well, there's Chiaotzu, I guess, if you can pry him away from Tien. Or Roshi…"

Videl was shooting him daggers with her eyes when he noticed 18 emerging from the palace behind Krillin and Naken, who were already deep in conversation.

"Hey, I know!" Gohan said, "Hey, 18! Come here a second, would you?"

18 walked over to them, "What is it?" she asked.

"You two should train together!" he said excitedly, receiving irritated glares in response.

"No, think about it!" He continued, "18, you're CRAZY strong! You could push Videl way past her limit! And Videl, you've had all this great training, 18's never had any! You could help turn her into a real martial artist!"

"That's…actually not a terrible idea." Videl said.

"I don't know…" 18 responded, "Look guys, I'm happy to help, but I know Krillin's going to fight no matter what, and I don't think I can risk leaving Maron alone. Even if I just left to train, who would watch her? Oolong?"

The group looked up as they heard Maron's laugh coming from the group that had been left outside. Chi Chi was enthralled with the child, playing various children's games and enjoying them every bit as much as Maron was. For the first time in years, she was getting to be a mother.

18 gave a crooked smile, "Maybe I can take some time, just to train." She conceded.

"What about you, Gohan?" Videl asked.

"I don't know yet." He replied, "I'll stay here and try to help Piccolo until we figure out where we stand. Then I was thinking I might go off with Goten and Trunks and help them train. There's a lot I can teach them, and they'll be able to push me harder than anybody else can."

Trunks had walked off by himself, and was staring over the edge of the Lookout at the endless sky in front of him when Goten approached him from behind.

"Hey, Trunks." He began shyly, "So...should we train together? If we push each other like that all the time, we'll get a lot stronger. And I miss hanging out with you. I don't really wanna go out there all by myself..."

Trunks glanced over his shoulder at Goten before returning his attention to the sky. "No thanks." He said, "I'll find a way to get stronger on my own. I'm sure I'll see you out there."

With that, he flew off into the distance, his cape billowing behind him in the wind, and the tournament champion behind him, staring sadly at the ground.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Counsel of Elders

"Piccolo, I've got him!" Dende said as he rushed to the entryway of the palace. Piccolo and Gohan were outside sparring, sweating profusely in an effort to work off the nervous energy from the day before.

"King Kai! Can you hear me?" Piccolo yelled up into the sky.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." King Kai's shrill voice rang out in their heads, "Dende sounds worried, what's going on, Piccolo?"

"King Kai, Freeza was revived with our Dragon Balls!" Piccolo said, still alarmed, "We need your help."

"I know that, give me some credit." King Kai said calmly, "I'm not really supposed to meddle that directly, though. What kind of help did you have in mind?"

"We need information. I need you to listen in on Freeza and his men and report back to us with whatever they're planning. Please King Kai, if he gets through us the whole universe could fall!"

"Oh, you want me to be a spy, do you?" King Kai said, his voice rising excitedly, "That sounds fu—er...that sounds unbecoming of my position. But under these grave circumstances, I suppose I could be of some assistance." The Kai rediscovered his composure, but did little to conceal his excitement at the prospect.

"Thank you King Kai!" Dende yelled into the sky.

"Yes, thank you." Piccolo said, finally calming down again.

"Don't mention it. I'll call you when I know something." King Kai replied.

"Bye, King Kai!" Gohan yelled, as King Kai cut off the connection.

Up on the mothership, Freeza's body was reassembling in the healing tank. The oxygen mask had been affixed to his face, and he was unconscious as his anatomy slowly coalesced into it's previous form. Sorbet was paitently looking on, along with a group of soldiers, including his most trusted pair, Tagoma and Shisami.

Suddenly, Freeza's eyes burst open, and he exploded out of the tank, shattering the glass and sending water pouring through the ship. The soldiers all jumped back and looked on in awe, as their scouters exploded from the shock of the sudden power surge.

"So, it seems I've been revived." The Acrosian said, opening and closing his fist as he examined his body.

"Yes, sire." Sorbet said cautiously, "It was no easy task, but we were able to obtain the Earth's Dragon Balls and revive you."

"Dragon Balls?" Freeza replied skeptically, "Oh yes I remember those, the magical orbs from Namek. And who are you?"

"My name is Sorbet!" the short alien replied, "I served under you as Staff Officer of the Third Stellar Region, and I've been serving as Commander in your absence."

"Now that you mention it I suppose you do look familiar. You've been leading my army?" Freeza asked, still skeptical.

"Yes sire! Along with my two associates, Tagoma and Shisami. They've progressed leagues since they were common foot soldiers under your regime, now rivaling even Dodoria and Zarbon at their peak!"

"Is that so?" Freeza asked, growing bored.

Suddenly, Freeza picked a soldier at random and fired a pinpoint beam through his heart, killing him instantly, to the horror of the others in the room.

"Just as I thought, my power's dwindled quite a bit since I left the living world. You must have taken your time to revive me."

"We tried our best! We were unable to locate the surviving inhabitants of Namek, but we made many attempts at the balls on Earth." Sorbet, still reeling from the shock of the murder, replied in a stammering voice. "Unfortunately, a Namekian living there always forced our troops to retreat before they could obtain the balls.

"The hiatus gave us a chance to develop our technology, however! Thanks to that, we were able to revive you back to your original form, with no cybernetic attachments! And more, we were able to create a device to locate the Dragon Balls! And drones to spy on the Earthlings' activities! We only needed an opportunity to retrieve the balls while the Namekian was distracted, and yesterday we got it! Most of the Earth's fighters entered a tournament, and the energy they put off was enough to mask our presence! Tagoma and I bravely traveled to Earth and revived you, while Shisami oversaw the ship."

"Yes, yes, quite impressive." Freeza replied, still clearly bored. "Tell me, what is the state of my Galactic Army."

"Err…" Sorbet became nervous again, "To be honest, sire, our power has dwindled significantly in your absence. The last few years have been especially difficult. Without your power at the helm, we simply don't inspire enough fear to gain their subservience, and we no longer have the men needed to occupy so many planets. We still control your home planet, as well several weaker ones in the 2nd and 3rd Stellar Regions, but the rest of your empire is aboard this ship, I'm sorry to say."

"I see." Freeza said, "And how long will it take to build up a new force large enough to attack Earth?"

"Attack Earth?" Sorbet asked in shock.

"Yes, of course." Freeza continued, "Did you really think I'd simply put my vengeance aside after what those Saiyans did to me? I'll have both their heads on a spike! Goku and that younger one…"

"Sire," Tagoma spoke up for the first time, confident in his information, "perhaps it is wise that we focus on building back your empire first. Our army is weak and battle weary, and there is no revenge to be had on Earth."

Freeza started to attack Tagoma for his insolence, but changed his mind upon hearing his last bit of information. "What do you mean 'there's no revenge to be had'?" he asked.

Sorbet reentered the conversation, "Sire, our drones became operational roughly four years ago. During that time the Earthlings battled a monster named Majin Buu, during which both Goku and Prince Vegeta perished. We were unable to locate the young Saiyan who attacked you on Earth, but we assume he is dead as well, or, at least, he is no longer on Earth."

"The Super Saiyans are dead?!" Freeza snarled.

"No, sire! Not all of them!" Sorbet continued, Freeza listening intently, "Both Goku and Vegeta fathered sons, two in Goku's case. The one you battled on Namek, Goku's eldest, has become quite powerful. With help from the others, he was able to defeat Majin Buu, though he never displayed as much power as Buu did. It's unclear if he is a Super Saiyan or if he achieved his power by some other means, but he is quite formidable.

"And the two younger ones are little more than boys, but they are both clearly Super Saiyans, and have displayed fearsome power. Vegeta's son fits the description of the one you battled on Earth perfectly, but is far too young to be him. We believe the two may be related, though it's unclear how that could be possible. And the Namekian has become quite powerful as well!"

Freeza snarled again, "What should I care about new Super Saiyans? They're just the same filthy Saiyan trash as all the others!" Composing himself, he continued, "If Goku and that boy aren't alive, then there can be no swift vengeance. If they're families remain, however, they will suffer in their place."

"What do you have in mind, lord Freeza?" Sorbet asked.

"If the Galactic Army has become so weak, then I will rebuild it, brick by brick, planet by planet. If the Earthlings are strong enough to destroy a creature like Majin Buu, I suppose I should devote some time to training for the first time in my life, though I'm sure it's nothing I can't achieve while I build the army if none of their fighters were ever able to match Buu.

"I will rebuild my empire mightier than ever before! And then, with the force of the greatest army the universe has ever known behind me, I will establish my new capital on Earth! Death alone is too good for those filthy monkeys; if all I have left to exact my revenge upon are their worthless families, then so be it! They will all bow before me as my slaves!"

"Piccolo! Do you hear me!" King Kai was screaming frantically.

"Yes, King Kai! What did you hear!"

"It's bad, Piccolo, very bad!" King Kai said, still rushing his words, "Freeza's going to attack the Earth!"

"What? Now?!" Piccolo yelled back.

"Oh, well not now, no." King Kai said, dropping suddenly into a completely calm, conversational tone. "But he is planning an attack."

Piccolo was furious and the bait-and-switch King Kai had inadvertently pulled, but kept his cool, "Well, when _is_ he attacking?"

"Oh, that'll be a while." King Kai continued, "He wants to rebuild his army and do some training first. Judging by the state of his army now, that could take years. Some of those planets he wants to use to build it have some decent warriors."

"How many years?" Piccolo asked, still agitated.

"Well I don't know, it depends on how powerful he wants to make it! But judging by it's current state, I'd say it'll take at least a year before he can think about occupying a planet like Earth, maybe a lot longer. But listen, Piccolo! He isn't coming to destroy the Earth, he's coming to take it over! He wants to enslave you all, and he's training for the first time in his life! This is serious!"

Piccolo let the last few words soak in, as he stood frozen for a moment before replying. "Thank you, King Kai. Please, keep gathering information. I have to go." And exploded into the air, heading for Kame House.

Gohan was sitting with Roshi watching Videl and 18 spar on the beach while Marron played in the sand. 18 was holding back significantly, though, ironically, it was Videl offering fighting pointers throughout. Piccolo touched down and walked briskly over to them, his cape billowing in the wind as he went.

"Gohan, Roshi! I need both of you to go to the Lookout and wait for me, we've got new information to work with."

"You need me?" Roshi asked, genuinely surprised.

"Yes, this effects you greatly." He replied, "Now where are Krillin and Tien?"

"Krillin's on an island right over there training Naken." Gohan replied, pointing out to his left. "I'm not sure where Tien is, but let me go look for him, I'll be able to cover more ground and sense him faster."

"Fine, go then, I'll get Krillin. Take Roshi to the Lookout first, though, I'm not carrying him up there."

"That won't be necessary." Roshi replied, to everyone's surprise.

"You can fly now?" Gohan asked.

"I was in that meeting after Buu, too, you know. I've done a little training. I had it down in a few hours, I don't know why you all act like it's so hard. I am a martial arts master, after all."

"Good, then wait for us there. Let's go, Gohan." And the two blasted off in opposite directions.

Piccolo found Krillin in a back pedal with Naken furiously pursuing him, firing punches and kicks one after another as Krillin deftly dodged them, offering pointers all the while. Both wore large, heavy turtle shells.

"Krillin! I need you at the Lookout, training will have to wait." Piccolo yelled from the sky.

Krillin and Naken stopped and looked up. "News already, huh?" Krillin asked, "Alright, I'll be right there. Just repeat what we did this morning, Naken. swim laps, run, all that stuff. I'll be back before long."

"Yes, Master Krillin." Naken replied, as Krillin flew off after Piccolo.

Gohan found Tien and Nein deep in meditation, practicing what apparently was Tien's standard first day of training. "Hey, Tien!" Gohan yelled from the sky, "We got word from King Kai, we need you at the Lookout!"

Both men opened their eyes as the elder of the two stood up. "Just keep doing what I taught you." Tien said, "If I'm not back by dark, go in to camp. Chiaotzu will have supper ready. I'll see you soon." He then turned and flew up into the air after Gohan.

Gathered together in the palace dining room, Piccolo recounted the news King Kai had given him to his group of associates. Of Freeza's return to his previous form, and his plans for revenge by means of global domination rather than destruction.

"So that's it." He concluded, "Thankfully, we've got some time; we'll use it to train as much as we can. We've got to get everyone who might be of some help up to snuff. As we pick up more information, we'll all meet back here and plan our defense. I've chosen those of you in this room to serve as the leaders of our resistance."

Once he was finished, Roshi spoke up first,

"Before we go any further, Piccolo, I must know why you asked me here. As I said before, I'm glad to help, but battle is a younger man's game. Perhaps my place should be filled by Yamcha."

"No disrespect to Yamcha, but I think you're a better fit." Piccolo began, "Yamcha's strong for a human, but he won't be much help for this job. He never had a chance to gain enough experience for an attack like this."

"Yes, but he did confront the Saiyans and the Androids. I haven't joined a battle since your father attacked." Roshi retorted.

"Indeed, but he didn't last long." Piccolo said plainly, "But you did confront my father, twice in fact. I expect that Freeza's invasion will be very much like my father's first was. Freeza is coming, but not for a battle, he's coming for a war. And I want you helping me lead the charge when he does."

The group allowed the force of Piccolo's words to wash over them. "Very well." Roshi finally said.

"Tien, you fought my father in his second invasion as well, and kept fighting for years, even against Buu. Gohan, Krillin, the experience you gained fighting Freeza and his men on Namek will be invaluable. That's why you're all here; I'll need everyone's help on this.

"Our table is short one member, however." Piccolo continued, "Tien, Roshi, you two need to do some recruiting."

Tien, already anticipating Piccolo's request, replied flatly, "No. We don't need him."

"He did fight alongside me against King Piccolo." Roshi responded, equally confident in who the nominee would be. "Master Shen may have strayed away from the light, but the man understands war. He would be a valuable asset. If ever there were a time to set aside old quarrels, this is it."

"He and Roshi were two of the finest warriors my father ever came across, and not because of their strength, Tien." Piccolo said, "If we can get him, he may be of great use to us."

Tien thought for a long moment before speaking again, "Suppose I say yes. I might be able to tolerate Shen, if he's remorseful. But what about Tao? I don't know that I could ever forgive him."

"Tao can serve as a soldier at your disposal." Piccolo responded, "If he won't accept that, he has no place in our army."

Tien thought long and hard again. "Fine." He finally said. "I'm sure I know where they are, but I'm not going back there without Chiaotzu, so we'll have to pick him up first. I'm ready when you are, Master Roshi."

"Once you speak to him, send word back to me and then get on with your training." Piccolo told the pair. "Freeza's given us time, let's not waste a moment of it."

With that, the two got up and slowly flew back toward Tien's camp.

"So, we're building our own army?" Krillin asked.

"Not exactly." Piccolo replied, "As I said, Freeza's plan is to bring a massive army to Earth. If we don't have one of our own, they could overwhelm us with numbers alone. We won't have time to train completely new recruits and still be ready ourselves, but it'll be all hands on deck when that day comes."

"I see. And what about those drones? Is it really safe for us to be talking strategy while they're still out here?"

"I've got Bulma working on that already." Gohan responded, "But as best we can tell, they keep too much distance to be able to pick up any sound. We should be able to meet safely."

It was dark by the time Tien, Roshi, and Chiaotzu touched down outside the old cabin. The terrain was wild and unkempt, as the Eastern jungle had crept onto the property. A lone lantern burned on the porch.

"Home sweet home, huh Chiaotzu?" Tien said, to which Chiaotzu gave no reply.

Momentarily, the door swung open, revealing the silhouette of a frail old man. He grabbed the lantern from above the door and held it up, illuminating the group.

"Why are you here?" Shen asked the group, "We've kept our peace, just as you asked. What more do you want?"

"Nice to see you, too, old friend." Roshi said.

"Go ahead and tell Tao to come out, too. We've got to talk." Tien said dryly.

Without being prompted further, another old man stepped out the door onto the porch. Tao Pai Pai was still covered in metal, though he didn't wear his headgear. He was a fearsome sight, his face burned almost beyond recognition, and his eyes seemingly bulging from his skull.

"What do you want, Tenshinhan?" Tao said, referring to Tien by his Eastern name.

"There's a war coming." Tien began flatly. "If you two care to make amends for your miserable lives, there's a place for you in it. We could use your help, but don't think we need you."

"We're offering you a chance at redemption, Shen." Roshi said, "Our days are numbered, you and I, but it's not too late. Come, fight with me one last time, your wisdom would be a powerful asset for the Earth."

The group fell silent as Shen considered the offer. Only a stray cricket in the background made a sound.

"In what position?" Shen finally asked.

"As a general, of sorts." Roshi responded, "A direct equal to me in every way, answering only to Piccolo."

"Piccolo?" Shen asked, taken aback.

"Much has changed since you disappeared, old friend. We now face an enemy far greater than King Piccolo, and his heir is going to lead us against it."

Shen thought silently for another long moment before speaking again in a hushed whisper, looking down at the ground. "I…I would like to earn redemption, yes."

"And what of me?" Tao asked.

"A common soldier, under my command." Tien replied, bitterness in his voice, "You'll likely die, but you'll die the hero you never were. I'm offering you martyrdom, take it or don't, I really don't care."

"Must you insult me, Tenshinhan?" he asked.

Tien didn't respond, but removed his sash, revealing the scar that ran from his collarbone to his deltoid. Chiaotzu finally did speak up,

"Please, fight with us, Master Tao." He pleaded, "Don't wait out here to die alone like this."

After another moment of silence Tao responded, "Serving beneath Tenshinhan, after all that's happened...such dishonor. I refuse. Leave me in peace." He then reentered the cabin, shutting the door behind him.

"We'll contact you when it's time for us to meet again. Until then, I suggest you get back into shape." Tien said to Shen.

As Tien and Chiaotzu flew quietly back into the air, headed for camp, Roshi lingered a moment longer.

"I've missed you, Shen. Welcome home."

Finally, Master Roshi, too, drifted away silently into the night.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Rebuilding

The next morning as the sun broke, Gohan was awake, standing on the ledge of the Lookout with his eyes closed, scanning the globe for energy. Far below him, Gorra was beginning his climb up Korin's tower.

"Looking for Goten?" Piccolo asked, walking up next to him.

"Yeah." Gohan responded, "No luck though, I guess he' still asleep. I was hoping him and Trunks would train together, but since they're not, I figure I better help 'em out as much as I can. They're not gonna run into anybody else that can really challenge them, and it's been a while since I've fought somebody as strong as them, too."

"It'll have to wait." Piccolo responded, "We have a job of our own."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"We're getting a new student. I plan on doing most of his training myself, but I need your help picking him up."

"Um...ok, I guess." Gohan said, and followed Piccolo into the sky.

They touched down outside a small village already bustling with the morning, many of its inhabitants wearing turban and burkas. Off in the distance a small child with a Mohawk was playing alone in the sand.

"So, who's your new recruit?" Gohan asked.

"Can't you tell?" Piccolo asked.

Suddenly Gohan felt the energy wash over him. "Whoa! Is that coming from that kid? But he's so young!"

"Don't you recognize him?"

Gohan had another epiphany, "That's Majin Buu!"

"Do you know anything about this?" Piccolo asked.

"Well, right before I finished Buu off, I said I wished he'd come back as a better person. I guess maybe King Yemma made it happen?"

"That sounds about right. Dende didn't get all the details but apparently Yemma alerted him that this child would be coming."

"How old is he? No way he's old enough to train."

"Less than three. I was hoping to wait a few more years before we did this, but the circumstances haven't left me much choice. Still, he's almost as old as you were when I trained you; we're taking him today, one way or another."

"What do you mean by that?" Gohan asked, noting Piccolo's cryptic tone.

"Yemma wasn't forward thinking enough to put Buu inside an orphan. This kid has parents."

"No, Piccolo…"

"There's two ways we can do this, Gohan. Either I can go in and be the monster that kidnaps a child again, or this can go more gently."

"Piccolo if you think I'm gonna help you kidnap a kid you've g-"

"If you want me to terrorize this whole village I'll do it, Gohan!" Gohan fell silent as Piccolo continued, "I don't like this either, but I'm not about to let Freeza take over this planet without giving him everything we've got, and that includes that boy!"

"…What did you have in mind?" Gohan meekly replied.

"Go into that hut next to where he's sitting. His mother's in there; explain the situation to her."

"You've gotta be kidding! She's not just gonna hand over her kid!"

"Will you just trust me for one minute! Go in and wait for my signal, it'll make sense later!"

Gohan hesitated, but nodded his agreement, and begrudgingly approached the hut. He knocked on the door, and was answered by a short brown-skinned woman with dark hair. "Yes?" she asked.

Piccolo was sitting cross-legged in the shade of a tree just outside the village, scouring the village with his eyes. He found his man, coming around from behind the house. Piccolo, still seated, gave a grunt as he threw his energy forward at the man. The man froze, tensed up, and then continued on his way.

"Well…uh…hi there, ma'am…" Gohan stammered, "Um…My name's Gohan, do you have a minute to talk?"

"Gohan!" The man said as he approached the door, "Dear, let Gohan inside, I've been expecting him for some time."

The woman, like Gohan, was confused, but complied. The three entered the room and sat around the kitchen table in the small hut.

"So, Gohan, it's finally time, is it?" the man asked. He didn't wear a turban like many of the others, and had short, dark hair matted from the dust in the land, as well as a thin mustache.

"Well, um, sir…" Gohan continued, still very unsure of himself, "I think it is, yes."

"Time for what?" The woman asked.

"Time for our boy to begin his training." The man answered, "Gohan is here to help him become the man the village needs him to be."

"Training?!" the woman exclaimed, "He's a baby! What kind of training could it be time for him to do?!"

"Ma'am, I'm not here to take away your son." Gohan said, convincing himself he was being honest, since he legitimately did not want to become a kidnapper. Growing increasingly confident in his role, he continued, "But he does have incredible talent. If you let me work with him a little while he's young, he'll be ready to come back in no time!"

The woman was preparing to launch into a vehement rejection of the proposal, when her husband spoke up again. "It's for the best, dear. Trust Gohan. I've known him his whole life. There is no better mentor for our boy, and you know as well as I that he must learn to control his power, or we risk the entire village. Our child will return, but he needs this training."

The woman was struck by the statement. She particularly remembered the times, in her son's short life, when his power had gotten out of control, and the destruction he had caused when he became especially agitated. She remained silent, but nodded slowly.

"Very well!" The man said, "Gohan, take our boy with you and go! We look forward to seeing you soon!"

Gohan was still deeply confused, but went outside and approached the boy, still obliviously playing in the sand. "Hey, buddy…." He said, "My name's Gohan, and, uh, we're gonna take a trip, ok?"

The boy looked up and began to become upset, frightening Gohan greatly, until his father approached and picked him up. "It's ok, son." He said, "We'll see you again soon. Go with Gohan now, and make us proud."

The boy calmed almost immediately, displaying obedience uncommon for his age, and allowed himself to be passed into Gohan's arms. The boy's mother cried as Gohan carried him high into the air, as his father smiled and waved goodbye.

Piccolo waited until Gohan was out of sight before snapping out of his trance. He quickly flew up into the sky, and went to meet Gohan and his new student at the Lookout. As he flew away, he heard a terrified man's voice scream, "I said WHAT?!"

Gohan sat Uub down on the tile outside the Lookout palace and, though he looked deeply upset, the child kept quiet. Piccolo appeared shortly thereafter.

"What just happened back there?" Gohan asked, still deeply unsettled.

"It's technique I inherited from my Kami." Piccolo responded, "I haven't used it in years, but I can take over the bodies of the weak when I want to. I picked the boy's father."

"I see. Well, you're not a bad actor, I guess. So what's your name, little guy?" Gohan asked the child.

"Uub..." The mohawked boy said shyly.

"Well, that makes sense. Hey, Piccolo, maybe we should go get my mom. She's good with kids, and I think he's gonna freak out if you try to train him the same way you did me."

"Yeah, right." Piccolo replied, "I learned my lesson about training kids next to mothers when I had Goten and Trunks. You weren't exactly a good sport about your training at first, either. Uub will be fine; I've been watching him for a while. He's shy, but fighting's in his blood; he'll take to it soon enough."

"Even if he does, is he really gonna make much of a difference?" Gohan asked, "Don't get me wrong, Buu was super strong, but he wasn't near as strong as me."

"That's true, but Buu was a force of nature, not a trained fighter. Uub here has a chance to harness and increase that power; if he does, there's no telling what he's capable of. We'd be fools not to find out.

"Go on and find Goten, I'll come find you if I need you. It's time Uub and I began our training." Piccolo said, locking eyes with the child. Gohan was hesitant, but followed orders and flew up into the air and hovered, seeking out Goten's energy. He was still unable to find it, but felt a familiar energy off in the distance and flew after it, as Piccolo began barking at his newest student.

Freeza touched down on the dirt and began to examine the battlefield, strolling casually through the carnage, flanked by Sorbet. In his periphery, a few skirmishes were still taking place between his men and enemy soldiers who had refused to obey the order of surrender, but the battle was won. In less than a day, the rejuvenated Freeza army had retaken its first planet.

As he approached the capital building he was met by a short humanoid man with a long, red beard, surrounded by four heavily armored soldiers, each carrying a long spear. Freeza scanned the group with his scouter and found that each of the guards possessed a slightly higher power level than the majority of those that had participated in the battle.

"I take it you're the leader of this planet here to discuss the terms of your surrender." Freeza said flatly.

"I'm the emperor, yes." the man replied, "What terms do you offer?"

"Unconditional submission." Freeza cracked a smile as the man's brow furrowed in anger. "Additionally," he continued, "Full use of any and all of your warriors that happen to survive our little skirmish, starting with your royal guard here."

"Out of the question!" the man yelled back, "My people remember what our lives were under your oppression! We'd sooner die than return to that!"

Freeza wordlessly raised his harm and pointed his finger at one of the soldiers, firing a small red beam through his throat. The man writhed on the ground and choked on his blood for several seconds while he bled out, much to the horror of the others.

"You don't understand." Freeza said once the man had fallen silent, unphased by the atrocity he had just committed, "You're speaking in hypotheticals, but this is very real. You will submit, or you _will_ die. My army has returned, more fearsome than ever before. Pledge your fealty to me now, order every last one of your men into my command, or prepare for this planet of yours to be reduced to cosmic dust. The decision is yours."

The Emperor continued to look on in shocked horror until Freeza raised his hand again, readying another kill shot at his chest. The Emperor fell to his knees in silence for a long moment before finally speaking, "Yes. We submit. I'll make the order."

Freeza lowered his hand back to his side. "Very well." He said as he turned to leave, "Sorbet, make sure everything's in order. Gather the new recruits, heal the men, repair the ships, all that business. I'll be waiting on the ship. Tomorrow we continue our conquest."

Freeza walked quietly back to his ship, content with his victory, but far from fulfilled. His first day living had yielded a planet, no small feat, but his army was still woefully powerless to fulfill it's purpose. As the door shuttered behind him, he muttered to himself, "Someday soon, Earthlings."

Trunks was sweating profusely as he worked, though the sweat was indistinguishable from the saltwater covering his body. Just off the deserted island where he had camped the night before, he was deep into aggressive training, a golden aura pulsating around him all the while.

Time and time again, at a torrid pace, he flew as high as he could, pushing the boundaries of the Earth's atmosphere, until the air became to thin for him to breathe, and then even further until his body could go without oxygen no longer. From there, he would turn and dive-bomb back to the sea below, catching his breath along the way and forcing his energy to propel him at roaring speed through the air and into the ocean, and deep until he reached the trench he had discovered on the ocean floor. From there he would force himself down deeper and deeper, until oxygen deprivation and the pressure of the sea forced him to turn and break to the surface again, where he would fire back toward outer space.

After several minutes of repeating the process, he finally reached his limit. Caught under water when his body gave out, it was all he could do to resurface and gasp for air. He slowly swam back to the shore of the island, where he laid down to catch his breath until he could begin his routine again. As he coughed and spat up water, he looked up into the sky and saw Gohan approaching.

An irritated scowl covered Trunks's face as Gohan descended down to the beach beside him. "Hey, Trunks." Gohan began, "Working hard, I see."

"Yeah, so? What do you want?" Trunks asked, rising to his feet and brushing sand off himself.

"Well, I was looking for Goten, but I felt your energy and figured I should come by and see if you knew where he might be. I even thought you and me could train a little bit, it'd do us both a lot of good."

Trunks finally turned his full attention to Gohan, "I'll pass. And I don't know where Goten is, but I'm sure he'll start training today so he shouldn't be hard to find. Go train with him and leave me alone. I don't need your help."

"Well…alright I guess." Gohan turned to leave and search for Goten, but caught himself and turned back around. "Trunks," he began, "are we okay? I've known you your whole life, if there's a problem, we can work it out."

"There's nothing to work out." Trunks replied dryly, "And if you stay away from me, there won't be any. I don't think I'll be needing any help from you of all people. Now if you're finished, Freeza's coming; I've got work to do."

Trunks didn't wait for Gohan to leave; with a grunt, a golden glow exploded around him and he fired high and away into the sky. Gohan looked at him dumbfounded, then shook his head and slowly flew away as Trunks crashed into the sea below him.

Roughly a mile away from the island, Gohan jerked his head to attention as he caught Goten's energy in the distance. He allowed his clear, wind-like aura to encompass his body, and shot toward it. He arrived within minutes, and as he approached, he heard Goten's high-pitched scream resonating through the air.

As Gohan descended, Goten relaxed his power, allowing his hair to return to its black color and the light around his body to dissipate. Boulders from the surrounding rock formations came crashing back to the ground around him as his energy faded.

"Hey! Goten! What're you doing?" Gohan yelled as he touched down.

"Hey, Gohan!" Goten yelled back, "I'm trying to get used to this new form! I wanna see how strong I am, but I can't do it now!"

"Well yeah, you just learned it." Gohan replied, to Goten's confusion. "You'll have to get worked up to do it again. But since you just mastered the Super Saiyan form, you're gonna wanna make sure you're 100% comfortable in that first. That's gonna be your base fighting form for the most part, I can tell you from experience that second form you had in the tournament drains your energy really fast."

"But my new form is stronger." Goten protested, "If I master that one, I'll be way stronger. Right?"

"I don't think you're gonna be able to master that one, Goten." Gohan replied, "It's not designed for that. You'll be able to fight in it for a lot longer than you could fight on the third level as Gotenks, but it's still gonna drain energy like crazy. Trust me, you'll wanna use that perfected first form as your starting point, and save that next one for emergencies. I can help you if you want."

"Aw, really?!" Goten shot to excitement at the offer.

"Well, yeah, sure." Gohan said with a laugh, "You'll have to help me train, too, though. Piccolo was great for my technique and pushing me to work, but he couldn't really challenge me. I'm hoping you'll be able to make me sweat a little bit."

"Make you sweat, huh?" Goten wore a sly smile now, "By the time Freeza gets here, I'm gonna be making you bleed."

"Bring it on then, kid."

The two broke down into stances as their auras charged up around them, each wearing confident smiles. Uub went crashing to the tile floor of the Lookout, Trunks shot out of the sea toward the sky, Freeza's prepared for liftoff to the next planet, and the two sons of Goku fired off the ground at one another and disappeared from sight.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Countdown

The next eighteen months passed without much incident. Gorra climbed Korin's Tower and, two weeks later, took the water jug away from Korin. He then continued to the Lookout and continued his training under Mr. Popo, and though Piccolo refused to pay him much attention, his strength increased and he surpassed Popo, and was able to force Yajirobe to serve as a serviceable training partner between visits from his comrades. Hammur, Naken, and Nein kept pace by training under Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin, respectively. The four met periodically to rehearse the Fusion Dance, and during these visits, often worked under one another's trainers, resulting in fighting styles that were strikingly similar. Powered by the group's progress, Okami's power soon dwarfed his tournament status, and his deficiencies in technique and energy control began to fade. His time limit, however, was never overcome.

Eighteen and Videl continued their training, but their progress was slower. Eighteen became more technically proficient, but her immense power increased only incrementally, as she was often distracted by the responsibilities of motherhood and overly dependent on her artificial strength, with no partner capable of pushing her beyond it. Roughly one year after the tournament, Gohan and Videl married, and though they agreed an impending war meant delaying any additions to their family, her passion for martial arts began to fade, and she saw herself surpassed by the younger warriors. Still, her power increased with each passing day, and she became a formidable fighter in her own right.

Gohan and Goten grew very close over the course of their training. Goten learned to summon his Super Saiyan 2 form at will and hold it for long periods of time, and though he was no match for Gohan, his strength was sufficient to force Gohan to exert himself, thereby keeping him in peak physical condition despite the distractions of married life. At Gohan's wedding, Goten served as Gohan's Best Man, an occasion for which his mother forced him to cut his hair almost as short as Gohan's, where he now wore it. Chi Chi and Bulma cried at the wedding, and Trunks declined to attend. Kibito made a brief appearance to send Goku's regards to the couple and assure everyone he was enjoying his new career greatly, as well as to relay how proud the Kais were of the group's dedication to their training, and wish them luck in their impending struggle.

Uub had his third birthday alone in the desert, and celebrated his fourth by spending the entire day sparring with Piccolo. At times, he overwhelmed Piccolo with ease, but often struggled to bring his power to the service, and at the times that he did, he struggled mightily to control it. Piccolo painstakingly worked with the child, all while staying in communication with King Kai, and slowly but surely, Uub learned to wield his immense power, though he understandably remained very raw. As Uub progressed further, the pair often held joint training sessions with Gohan and Goten, allowing Uub to fully exert his power against comparable competition, and allowing Piccolo to work personally with each of the Sons while the other sparred with Uub.

Trunks had little communication with the outside world, aside from the rare visit with his mother. Occasionally, the other warriors would drop by to check on him, but with the exception of Tien and Goten, he largely rebuffed their advances, and never agreed to train with anyone else. By and large, he remained in solitude, and kept his training hidden from the outside world.

Freeza's army grew from a lone spaceship into a massive fleet, which he menacingly dubbed the Freeza Armada. Planet after planet fell before the powerful force, and each was forced to contribute warriors and ships to the Armada. Freeza did little training, but frequently inserted himself into the fray of battle, challenging himself to see how many men he could kill without stopping to rest, or how quickly he could end a planet's resistance. With Sorbet at his side, his power grew steadily, and soon dwarfed the power he held in his first life. The news of his return spread throughout the galaxy, as did his ruthlessness.

Tagoma and Shisami progressed leaps and bounds as well. Freeza would often put them in charge of large swaths of his army and then put them in especially difficult positions, either due to a lack of understanding of military strategy or, as Shisami suspected, a sadistic pleasure in sending them on suicide missions. Still, the two always survived, and the struggle made them fearsome both as warriors and under-fire strategists. Together, they became the two finest field generals in the galaxy, though which was greater was a flash point of debate between the two.

Finally, after nearly eighteen months of planet hopping away from the Earth, Freeza's army launched an attack on a large, resource-rich planet known as Magnesia. The siege took the better part of a month, but the planet was eventually conquered. Rather than leave, however, the Armada made camp, and Freeza looked toward the Earth.

"Lord Freeza, you summoned us?" Shisami said, as he and Tagoma entered the Captain's room of the mother ship. Freeza, resting in his first form, sat in his floating chair with Sorbet at his side.

"Yes, yes, come in." The Acrosian replied, "Gentlemen, you deserve to be commended. I don't often offer praise, but I must say: forty planets and not a significant setback yet. You may have taken a mite longer than I preferred on this particular planet, but I'm not one to let good work go unnoticed. Well done."

Shocked at the praise from the normally cruel tyrant, the two stood in stunned silence for a moment before Shisami replied, "Th-Thank you, sir."

"We live to serve you, lord Freeza." Tagoma added, with a bow.

"Yes, well." Freeza continued, "You may have noticed I've put a halt on our progress following our last battle. The men are tired, and they'll require rest, but more importantly, it's time we turned our attention toward Earth. The Armada is battle hardened and ready, and my vengeance can wait no longer. It must be satisfied!

"Sorbet and I have formulated a plan of attack we believe will allow us to reach the Earth at the height of its strength. Sorbet, elaborate, if you please."

"Yes, sire!" Sorbet replied, "Gentlemen! As you know, up to this point, our military has moved away from the Earth. That is about to change. We'll use the next month to regroup our military. Magnesia has many fine warriors that can be added to our force, but they'll need to be trained and drilled; that's where you two come in."

"Sir!" the two replied in unison.

"Now, at the conclusion of this month," Sorbet continued, "We'll begin our planet hopping strategy back toward the Earth, running a parallel line of planets to the path we took here." A large holographic table appeared in the center of the room, as Sorbet began to illustrate the form across it. "This time, however, we will only attack every second planet, and will double our recovery time between missions. Doing so will allow our military to increase it's power without suffering substantial casualties along the way, and though it will slow the Armada's growth, we believe it's size is already more than sufficient to attack the Earth, and growing too much more could result in difficulty controlling the force.

"Now, when we arrive on Earth…" As Sorbet continued to talk, King Kai focused intently on the conversation from his small house, furiously scribbling on a notepad at his kitchen table. The meeting took the better part of an hour, during which King Kai recorded every trace of information he could, and then contacted Dende.

Dende ran outside and found Piccolo, Uub, and Gorra floating cross-legged side by side on the edge of the Lookout with their eyes closed, a white glow encompassing each of their bodies. He timidly mustered an, "Um, Piccolo…"

Piccolo cracked one eye open and, upon seeing the urgent look on Dende's face, quickly landed and followed him into the Lookout, where the two Namekians listened to King Kai recant every scrap of information he could muster. The moment he was done, Piccolo ran out the door and exploded into the sky, bound for the largest energy he could sense.

Dende walked outside and found Mr. Popo tending to a flowerbed. "Mr. Popo," he began, "I think you'd better take Uub and Gorra and get them out of here for a while. When Piccolo gets back, he's not gonna want any extra company."

"Yes, of course." Popo replied, and then went and woke the two boys, sending them down to continue their meditation at Korin's Tower.

When Piccolo touched down, Gohan and Goten were laying in the shade of a tree, still sweating and breathing heavily from their last sparring session. The two were joking and teasing one another, but quickly grew serious upon Piccolo's arrival.

"Gohan, I need you to go get Krillin and Roshi and head to the Lookout right now." He said, forgoing any introduction.

"It's that time, huh?" Gohan replied. "Alright, Goten, I've gotta go. Just keep up the work, I'm sure I'll see you before long."

"No," Piccolo interrupted, "Don't just go back to work. Go find Trunks. I don't care what you have to do, make him train with you. At least make sure you can still create Gotenks."

"Well, okay, Mister Piccolo," Goten replied hesitantly, in his newly changed voice, "but I don't think he's gonna want to."

"Then make him!" Piccolo barked, "I don't care what it takes, start a brawl if you have to! Find a way to make him work! I'm done with his selfish attitude!"

"Well, yes sir, I guess…" Goten said, and hovered into the air to try to find Trunks. Gohan nodded at Piccolo, and the two flew off in opposite directions.

Gohan found Krillin, Roshi, and Naken running laps around an island in large turtle shells, while 18 and Videl took a break inside Kame House. He noticed that Roshi looked nimbler than he had ever seen him before, and though he seriously doubted he had gotten any stronger, he had clearly made the effort to get into shape. Gohan stopped them, relayed the message, and the three made a beeline for the Lookout, leaving Naken to continue training alone.

Piccolo found Tien with Chiaotzu, Nein, Hammur, and Yamcha. Nein and Hammur were locked in a high-octane sparring match as Tien and Yamcha yelled instruction to their respective students from either side of the scuffle, and Chiaotzu stood to the side with his hands out, manipulating the fighters and the terrain around them as they went along.

"Tien, I need you at the Lookout, let's go." Piccolo said, as Nein landed a big right hand squarely to Hammur's jaw, sending him staggering backwards.

"I see." Tien replied, "I guess I should go get Shen, huh?"

"Yes, but hurry. We'll be waiting."

"Hey, Piccolo, how come I'm not invited to the secret meeting?" Yamcha asked, masking his irritation at the slight behind a smile.

"Sorry, Yamcha. Somebody's got to keep these guys working while we're gone. I'm counting on you." Piccolo replied, before quickly flying back to the Lookout.

Yamcha was only unsatisfied, but took it in stride, and put his hand on Tien's shoulder. "I'll keep these two working; Naken and Gorra, too. Go do what you've gotta do." He said.

"Right." Tien responded, before he, too, flew away.

Tien came to a stop above the campground and found Shen and Tao standing back to back in the middle of a circle of bottles, firing one Dodon Ray after another at rapid speed around one another's bodies, clouding the air in red flashes and shattered glass as they went.

"Hey, Shen!" Tien yelled, not bothering to land, "Today's the day! Let's go!"

Shen looked at Tao, his face covered by its metal casing, but he only crossed his arms and looked blankly up at Tien. Shen wordlessly floated up into the sky and followed Tien back to the Lookout.

By the time Tien and Shen touched down, everyone else was already gathered in a circle outside the Lookout door. Upon their arrival, the group turned and walked quietly into the dining room. Piccolo took his place standing at the head of the table, and Gohan, Krillin, Tien, Roshi, and Shen each took a seat around it; Krillin and Roshi on one side, Tien and Shen on the other, and Gohan at the opposite head.

Piccolo walked up to the wall, reached up, and placed his hands side by side. He then drug his right arm across, and then down, materializing a large chalkboard as he went, and then a stick of chalk in his hand. With the room completely silent, Piccolo drew a large oval on the board, with an "O" at the oval's bottom point and an "X" at it's top. He then added an arrow pointing from the "O" to the "X" along one curve of the oval, and then a second arrow leading from the "X" to the "O" on the opposite curve.

"The 'O' is the Earth." He began, "and the 'X' is Freeza's army. That first arrow is the path they've already traveled, but now they're preparing to work their way back along the path of the second arrow. Any questions yet?"

"Yes, I've got two." Shen said, "Who is Freeza? And how could you possibly know this?"

"Quiet, Shen. I'll fill you in later." Tien said, irritation dripping from his voice.

Piccolo ignored the question and continued, "It took him a year and a half to make the trip from Earth to the planet he's on now, at the top of that oval. He's going to stop there for a month, and then start working his way back here. It should take him just about that long to make the return trip, maybe a hair less. That means we should have almost exactly another eighteen months until he hits home.

"Now, everyone settle in; we're going to be here a while. The first thing we have to do is take stock of what we've got, then we can start talking strategy. For starters, you should all know Bulma's taken care of the drones."

"Some kind of frequency she sent up disarmed them all." Gohan chimed in.

"Also," Piccolo continued, slightly annoyed at the interruption, "Dende has the Time Chamber operational again. He couldn't get around the two-day limit, but we all have at least a day left, and if we need it, it's in our back pocket. Now, Tien, Krillin, how are Yamcha's students doing?"

"Well, they're not Super Saiyans." Krillin said, "But they're coming along great. They're probably as at least strong as I was when we fought at the tournament."

"They're benefitting a lot from all the training we got over the years." Tien added, "If they keep coming along, there's no reason they can't be at least as strong as I was when we fought the Saiyans by the time Freeza gets here, maybe a bit stronger."

"Where does that put Okami?" Piccolo asked.

"I don't know, weaker than a Super Saiyan. Maybe like that fat Android, maybe a little weaker." Krillin said, "Don't ask me where that puts him when Freeza gets here, I've got no idea."

"How do you not know?" Piccolo asked, irritated by the answer.

"Okami doesn't progress like a normal fighter." Tien said, "He's a combination of all of them. If one makes a big jump, you might not even see it in Okami. If all four of them do, he can seem like a different person."

"Yeah, trying to gauge him that far away is gonna be next to impossible." Krillin added.

"It's a fool's errand." Tien piled on.

"Then we can't count on him being a centerpiece to the plan." Piccolo said, "If he turns out to be stronger than we think, fine, but between that and his time limit we can't afford to count on him much. Roshi, tell me about 18 and Videl."

"Well, I haven't been watching that closely, but 18's a little stronger. Somewhere in your range, I'd say, though she's still fairly raw as a martial artist; I'm sure you could defeat her, hypothetically of course. As for Videl...she's quite a bit stronger than me, but that's about it. No match for any of Yamcha's fighters, I'm sure."

"18 could be of some use, then. Gohan, how're you and Goten doing?" Piccolo asked.

"Pretty great, actually." Gohan said, "My body's still as strong as it can be, and Goten's at least as strong as I was when I killed Cell, maybe even stronger. There's no telling where he'll be in a year and a half."

"Good. Uub's coming along well, too. On his good days he's capable of fighting Goten to a draw, but those days are still far too rare; I'll get that worked out, I assure you. That just leaves Trunks. Does anyone have any idea how he's coming along? Tien, Gohan?"

"Don't ask me." Gohan said, "I don't know what his deal is, but he won't have anything to do with me. I'll ask Goten next time I see him."

"I don't know much more than that." Tien added, "I sense his energy all the time, though, and he's a machine of a worker. I can assure you he's getting stronger; to what extent, I can't say."

"Fair enough. Then let's start talking about Freeza's plan of attack…" Piccolo said as he turned his attention to the chalkboard, and began scribbling away.

Goten found Trunks's energy coming from a valley between several glaciers in a bitterly cold northern tundra. He took a moment to gather himself and measure Trunks's strength, then took a deep breath, and flew down to find his old friend, fully confident in the imminent failure of the meeting.

Trunks sensed Goten closing in, let out an irritated grunt, and went on about his work.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Revelations

Piccolo began his second diagram by drawing a large oval at the top of the chalkboard, followed by a circle in each of the two bottom corners of the board. He then drew an arrow leading from either side of the oval to the circle on it's respective side, and then drew two dividing lines inside the oval, cutting it into equal thirds.

"This is Freeza's plan of attack." Piccolo began, "It's going to take a second to explain, but it's not that complicated. The big oval at the top represents his fleet; it's going to land together, organize off board, and then split into three even groups. The first third is bound for East City under one of his General's command, and the second one is headed for West City under his other General. Their plan is to take our two largest cities on each side of the planet, dig in between the buildings and hostages, and turn our defense into chaos before we can figure out what's happening. At most, he's expecting only one of his forces to be challenged, and plans to reinforce that one with his last group of troops. What he's not planning on is us being ready."

"So we hit them before they can split." Tien chimed in, confident he had already solved the conundrum. "What's stopping us from just meeting them in the air before they get a chance to land and taking them out?"

"Maybe, but I'm not sure that's wise." Piccolo responded calmly, "Roshi, Shen, what do you think?"

The two old men thought quietly for a moment before Roshi spoke up, "No, I think we're best to let them land and begin moving. Freeza's force will be accustomed to being challenged as they attempt to land; if he's foolish enough to divide his army for us, we'd better accept the favor."

"There's a hole in that plan, Roshi." Shen said, still deep in thought, "Suppose we do let him split. We then have to choose between simply allowing him to take one or both of our cities, or else try to fight him on two or even three different fronts. One costs us massive civilian casualties and lets them set up communication and defenses, the other gambles our entire force, especially whichever part gets the weakest split. Have we the manpower for a task like that?"

"It won't be easy, I admit." Roshi responded pensively, "But our scarcity of fighters will only be more obvious in a full frontal attack, and we have enough seasoned warriors to lead our forces in multiple battles. That's to say nothing of the horrors his men would impose on those cities if they were to take them. I believe we should let them divide."

Shen paused a while longer, and finally nodded in agreement. Piccolo thought for a long moment before turning his attention to the board once again. "Very well," he began, as he drew an "X" on each arrow, roughly ¾ of the distance between the large oval that represented the Freeza Armada and the "O"s that stood for each city. Finally, he drew a smaller "X" in the center of the board, directly beneath the oval.

"If we're going to allow Freeza to divide his army, then we'll have to divide ours as well. We'll split our force in two, absent me, the Saiyans, and Uub. One group will intercept Freeza's army a few miles outside of East City, the other outside of West City. You humans will lead them, and since Freeza's splitting his troops evenly, we'll need to cut our warriors up as evenly as possible to match them, if this is the route we're going to take."

"Wait, Piccolo." Gohan spoke up. "Why are we hanging back? If we fight with everyone else we'll have a way better chance of stopping Freeza's men. You took all our strongest fighters out of the equation!"

"That's because we're here." Piccolo said, gesturing toward the small "X" in the middle of the board. "Freeza's plan is to hold the last third of his men at his ship with him. Since he doesn't expect us to be defending both cities, he's planning on sending this group to reinforce whichever group gets attacked. We're not going to let that happen.

"When Freeza gets word that both of his units are under attack, he'll deploy everyone in his command to reinforce them, and maybe even pursue the battle himself. Me, Uub, and you Saiyans are going to cut those reinforcements off before they ever reach the battlefield. That should give our humans a fighting chance in their battles, and we'll have all of our strongest warriors in place to confront Freeza once he decides to enter the fray. It'll take all of us, but it's our best chance."

"Geeze, Piccolo, I don't know." Krillin said, rubbing his head as it throbbed with stress, "Taking all our Saiyans out of the battle really leaves us out on a limb. Who's even left for us to fight with?"

Gohan began to think out loud: "Well, there's you four, for starters; then Yamcha and all of his students, so that's nine. I know we don't really want Videl or 18 fighting, but it sounds like we'll need them, so that makes eleven, plus Chiaotzu and Yajirobe can come out of retirement. Heck, even Popo might have to fight."

"Is that enough for you two to work with?" Piccolo asked the elderly men at the table.

"What do you think, Shen? Can we work a formation with only six or seven bodies?"

"You can execute a funnel formation with as few as five, provided your fulcrum is strong enough." Shen replied, less than confident in his own idea. "But it may not be quite so dire. We'll need fighters who can fly and fire they're energy, sure, but there's bound to be more on this planet than those we listed."

"Like who?" Tien interjected, "Even Yajirobe can't fly or fire energy blasts. Though I'm pretty sure he'd learn if I threw his fat gut out of that tower…"

"Well Roshi's sister keeps four decent fighters on retainer, for starters." Shen said, "They might not be ready now, but I can teach any fighter worth his salt those skills in a year. You all bring me whatever raw warriors you can find, and I'll have them ready. They might not be much more than cannon fodder, but they'll keep us from getting overwhelmed by the enemy's numbers."

"Yamcha's been all over the planet the last few years looking for talent." Krillin said, "He's probably the man to talk to about new recruits."

"Consider that your mission, then, Shen. Roshi, you're not getting any stronger by training either, use your time to train the new recruits with him." Piccolo said as Roshi nodded solemnly, "Tell me more about this funnel formation."

"It's a large 'V', more or less, made to contain large forces in a small area." Shen explained, "You place your weaker fighters at the tops, and then get progressively stronger toward the middle. The weaker ones don't have to do much damage, just force their opponents into the middle of the formation and stay alive. However, it lives and dies on the fulcrum at the bottom holding it's own."

"So that'll be our two strongest fighters." Krillin said, "I guess 18'll have to be one, much as I hate that idea. And I guess either me or Tien as the other? You sure you can't hang back and help us out, Piccolo?"

"Sorry." The Namekian responded, "But if I send Uub off to fight Freeza without me, there's no telling how he'll respond, and we'll need him in that fight. Besides, I'll need to orchestrate my force, too. Gohan's the only one of them with any wartime experience, and even his is limited."

"Also, no," Shen said to Krillin, "you and Tien can't be at the fulcrum. Roshi and I will hold back to examine the battlefield from afar where we can see what's happening and adjust the formation, but we'll need Field Generals to relay our commands, as well as reinforce the funnel wherever it weakens, and catch any enemies that bleed over the edges. That needs to be you two."

"So what, then? We put Okami at the center?" Tien asked, "He's only around for fifteen minutes, I don't think that's gonna be enough time."

"Indeed, against a force of this size, these battles could drag on for hours." Roshi noted, "We can't rely on a fusion at the fulcrum. Our strongest remaining fighter is Yamcha, it will have to be him."

As the thought sank in, an awkward silence befell the group.

Goten found Trunks beneath a large glacier, breathing deeply and sweating profusely despite the frigid temperature. Goten watched as Trunks, in his base, purple-haired form, fired a blast up into the core of the glacier and then phased out of sight attempting to catch every shard of ice before it fell to Earth. The last spec looked as if it might reach the frozen turf, but Trunks dove foreword, and caught it in his right hand, it's tip less than an inch above the ice.

"You're getting faster." Goten noted, unsure of how else to breach the awkward encounter.

Trunks stopped his work and turned to face Goten, his long hair now falling to his shoulders. "Don't patronize me, Goten." He said, "I know you're still stronger."

"Maybe, but that's changed before." Goten replied, "Come on, Trunks, train with me! At least for a little while. Gohan's busy planning the fight now, and we could both get a lot stronger. You need someone to work against or you're holding yourself back!"

"Come on, Goten, I told you before-"

"Is it because of our fight?" Goten interjected, "Or what is it? We were so close and now you won't spend time with me and you won't even talk to my brother...what's going on, Trunks? Why are you avoiding all of us!?" Goten was venting as much as asking, but Trunks saw the pain on his friend's face, and finally allowed himself to elaborate.

"Sorry, Goten. It's nothing against you or because you beat me or anything. But...ok, look. So I trained with my dad growing up, and I was the strongest kid anyone had ever seen, right? And then he died. And these last few years I played by everybody else's rules; I got a master, I learned techniques and strategies, I worked myself half to death...and you passed me. I don't know, Goten, I just...I've gotta figure this out for myself, you know? Just like my dad always did. It's nothing against any of you, but I've gotta do this."

"Yeah, I get it...but what about Gohan? You guys were friends, too, everybody can see how you've been treating him."

"You're his brother, Goten, I can't expect you to understand..." Trunks trailed off a moment to choose his words carefully, "Look, I don't wanna hurt your feelings. I don't hate your brother, but...it's just...he made some mistakes, alright? A lot of people did. It's just better if we don't spend a lot of time together. Alright?"

Goten nodded, but found himself without an appropriate response, caught in a vortex of conflict between Piccolo's instructions, Trunks's explanation, his curiosity, and his loyalty to his brother.

"What do you mean 'planning the fight', anyway?" Trunks asked skeptically, eager for a change in the conversation.

"Oh, well yeah. Piccolo's got a group putting together our plan to stop Freeza. Krillin, Tien, Roshi…"

"So that's what they've been doing this whole time. Nice of them to ask our opinion."

"Well, not really. They've all been training themselves and the Wolf School fighters. Piccolo's even got a new student, and he's really strong!"

"I've felt the energy. Where'd he come from?" Trunks asked, his skepticism increasing by the second.

"Oh, Uub? He's Buu in a different body." Trunks's eyes widened at the mention of Buu's name, but Goten failed to notice, and continued. "Gohan wished Buu would come back when they were fighting and then they put him in this kid. Piccolo and Gohan went and got him and started training him and-"

Goten caught himself too late. Trunks's face turned to fury when Goten revealed Gohan's involvement in Buu's resurrection, and he remained in place only long enough to find Uub's energy before firing into the air, a golden glow encasing him as he rocketed off the ground.

"Huh? Trunks, stop!" Goten yelled as he, too, shot into the air and allowed himself to transform. Goten was gaining ground, but Trunks's speed had improved significantly, and with the head start he'd gained, it would be touch-and-go trying to beat him to Korin's Tower. With time dwindling, Goten opted not to risk the race and grunted harshly as lightning encompassed his body. Less than a mile from the tower, Goten overtook Trunks, and jumped in his path, his arms spread out wide.

"What are you doing!?" Goten yelled, struggling to contain his emotions as the massive power surged through his body.

"Get out of my way, Goten!" Trunks yelled back, "I wanna see that kid!"

"No, you wanna hurt him!" Goten yelled back, "That's not gonna happen!"

Piccolo was still drawing on the chalkboard when he felt Goten's power spike, confirming his suspicion that the meeting had gone awry. Sensing the close proximity of the pair, he calmly placed his chalk on the table and walked to the doorway.

"Roshi, Shen, please keep working. Everyone else, come with me. This won't take long."

The others calmly followed Piccolo out of the room, as the two Old Masters launched into a heated debate about the merits of various military tactics.

"Even if I was, it's not your place to stop me!" Trunks yelled. As tough as his exterior might have been, Trunks was not disillusioned: even in his normal Super Saiyan form, Goten was putting off substantially more power than he was capable of. If anything, the gap between the two had widened, and that reality was causing Trunks teeter on the verge of recklessness. "You've all been training Majin Buu behind my back and I deserve to see it, now let me through! Don't test me, Goten!"

"Behind your back?! You've been hiding from _us!_ " Goten screamed, but the argument went no further, as Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, and Gohan flew in and stopped directly behind Goten, all staring daggers into Trunks.

"What is this, Trunks?" Tien asked, irritation dripping from every word.

"Well, Master," Trunks began sarcastically, "I just found out our genius leaders here are training the monster that killed everyone on Earth, and now that I want to meet him myself, there's a problem!"

"You could've met him any time, Trunks." Gohan said flatly. "We all felt your power spike, this was no friendly greeting."

Trunks began to arch his power again as he prepared to yell back at Gohan for his impudence, but Piccolo spoke up first:

"No, Trunks is right. We should've introduced the two of you sooner. Everyone, get back to work, I'll be there shortly. Trunks, come with me."

The group from the Lookout was displeased, but after looking at one another for a long moment, Krillin nodded his head, and they complied, slowly floating back up to the Lookout. Goten allowed his hair to droop and darken, but held his place in the air as Trunks, now purple-haired, reluctantly followed Piccolo up to Korin's Tower.

As the two walked in the door, they found Gorra with a blindfold tied around his eyes, quietly sparring with a clearly discontented Yajirobe as Korin looked on. For his part, Uub floated in the far corner of the room with his eyes closed, deep in meditation.

Piccolo walked up to Uub and placed his large green hand on Uub's shoulder, causing the boy to open his eyes and descend to a standing position, as the sparring in the room came to a halt, all eyes on the pair. Now four years old and sporting a tall mohawak and impressive muscle mass for his age, Uub only vaguely resembled the toddler Gohan had taken from the village not so long ago. In Piccolo's eyes, he was exactly as Gohan had been when the two had trained for the Saiyans: young, polite, terribly powerful, and woefully green behind the ears.

"Uub, there's someone here you should meet." Piccolo said, gesturing toward Trunks, still standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. "This is Trunks; he's one of the most powerful men in the world. Trunks, this is Uub. He's going to help us defeat Freeza. You two will be great allies, I'm sure."

Uub walked forward cautiously, sensing the tension in the room, and Trunks walked forward to meet him, until the two stood belt-to-neck, with Trunks looking directly down at the boy.

Uub looked back up and met Trunks's gaze, never wavering despite the harsh look Trunks was giving him. He had heard about Trunks before, mostly during his time with Goten and Gohan, and knew about his battle at the tournament with Goten, as well as the rift that had since grown between him and the group. A few times at night when he had been struggling to sleep, he had sensed his power off in the distance, and knew that Trunks carried massive strength. He also knew that he had no reason to be intimidated.

Trunks looked down into the child's brown eyes and felt the enormous strength bubbling beneath the surface of his tiny body, and knew that if the child were ever able to harness it, he would be completely overwhelmed. What occupied his mind most prominently, however, was the tenor of his energy. The strange sense of familiarity caused his stomach to churn, and at one point even caused his upper lip to snarl before he finally turned and walked toward the exit.

Before he flew away, Trunks turned and looked back at Piccolo, the room still completely silent. "Mark my words, Piccolo. Someday, that monster's going to get out, and when it does, it'll be your fault." He turned to leave, but stopped once more, turning to say "Well, yours and Gohan's." And then drifted back off into the distance, Uub and Piccolo staring resolutely after him.

"What was that all about, Mister Piccolo?" Gorra asked, as Piccolo stared angrily after Trunks.

"A failed effort to bring Trunks back into the fold." Piccolo replied coldly, before flying back to the Lookout to continue his work.

Goten was waiting for Trunks when he passed back by him. "Well?" Goten asked, rather impatiently.

Trunks stopped briefly in the air to reply, saying, "Don't get too attached to him, Goten. Someday, we'll have to kill him."

With that, Trunks flew back to the arctic tundra, and Goten, too appalled to issue a reply or give chase, stayed floating in the air, watching the fading image of the man he understood least in the world.

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hey, y'all. I've gotten some questions that I think need to be addressed, so let's dive into it:_

 _First, in regards to Piccolo's aging: Basically, there's some disagreement about whether I'm making Piccolo seem too old when he should still be in his prime. And, yes, Piccolo is only a few years older than Gohan, so he's pretty young. That said, he's a Warrior-Clan Namekian, and while we don't necessarily know what that entails, we know he was a fully mature adult at three years old, while Dende (a Dragon-Clan Namkeian) is still in a child-like body at roughly thirteen. Additionally, Piccolo's fused with two other Namekians, so without a set canon as to how he ages, I think it's more than reasonable to assume he's going to age closer to the original Dragon Ball cast than the younger characters. Additionally, he's holding up better than the humans, so hopefully that at least explains the line of thinking that goes into his body starting to slow down on him at this point in his life._

 _Secondly, and probably more importantly, there's the Trunks-Gohan situation. Basically, the complaint is that I've drug it on too long, to which I say: yeah, you guys are kinda right about that one. That's partially by design: we're building toward something here, and I want time for the problem to fester and for suspense to build, and explain everything piece by piece, but the bigger problem is that there's just a lot going on. I could focus on that storyline, sure, but we've still got the Goten/Gohan dynamic, Freeza, Piccolo & Uub, all the humans...that's a lot to cover in a short-chapter format. The obvious response to that is "well, make the chapters longer" which, again, is fair. And I could do that if that's what y'all want to see, but I couldn't maintain the new-chapter-every-week format I've got going if I did, due to real life issues like work and burnout. All I can really say is that, much like this chapter, it will continue to be addressed, and that the problem is going to come to a head, I assure you._

 _So, once again, thank you for all of your support, this really is a lot of fun for me, and I hope you enjoy the story as we move into the meat of the RoF arc!_

 _-SlotT7_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The Path We've Chosen

After several more hours of planning, Piccolo finally released the council for the night. Weary from the day, Roshi and Shen elected to stay in the Lookout for the night, and Tien, still wanting to discuss strategy into the night, stayed as well to continue speaking in hypotheticals with Piccolo. Gohan and Krillin, however, left for Kame House, where they knew they would find their families.

Sitting at the Kame House kitchen table with Videl, Gohan and Krillin recounted the days discussion in as much detail as they felt they were permitted while 18 put Maron to bed. They spoke of Freeza's expected arrival date, and his plan to attempt to take the Earth's two most prestigious cities for strongholds. Their discussion turned to lamentations, however, when they reached the problem of the fulcrums.

"Man, I really don't like this." Krillin said to Gohan, "I knew 18 would probably have to fight, but putting her right in the middle of it, and without you Saiyans there to help…"

"I know," Gohan responded, "But at least 18's strong. I'm sure he'll be something else, but it might be a stretch to think Freeza's got soldiers as strong as her. But Yamcha at that other fulcrum, that's what really scares me…"

"Why does it have to be Yamcha?" Videl asked.

"There's nobody else." Gohan explained, "Piccolo wants to take Uub and all us Saiyans to cut off the reinforcements and take on Freeza, Krillin and Tien are going to be reinforcing the formation and giving orders, and Okami can't stay fused long enough for the battle. That leaves Yamcha as our strongest guy."

"Don't get me wrong, I love the guy," Krillin piled on, "he's a heck of a fighter, but he's not exactly the guy you wanna be building your whole defense around, you know? If we just had one more fighter like 18…"

18 reentered the room here, and shot the table a look that seemed to embody the words: "How can you be this stupid?"

"Um, we do. He's _stronger_ than me. Remember?" 18 said, to the utterly confused table.

"What are you talking about?" Krillin asked.

"You guys are kidding right? 17? Dark hair? The other guy Cell 'android'?"

"You still talk to him?" Gohan asked, "I mean, we can't sense his energy, we don't even know where he is. And isn't he still evil?"

"Oh my gosh…guys, he's my twin brother." 18 said, growing more exasperated by the moment, "We were kidnapped by a maniac, turned into cyborgs, eaten by a giant bug man, and we lived! You think I don't call him once in a while?! And no, he's not evil! We never were! The only people we ever hurt were Gero and you guys after you attacked us! He's just a normal guy, living a normal life. He's a park ranger or something outside of West City now."

"Do…do you think he'd help?" Krillin asked.

"Gee, I don't know." 18 said, her voice now teeming with sarcasm, "He might, if you _asked him!_ "

With that, she left the room and huffed upstairs to her bedroom, leaving Krillin and Gohan dumbstruck, and Videl giggling to herself.

Outside the palace on the Lookout floor, Uub and Piccolo were meditating side by side. Piccolo hadn't had a true night's sleep in over four years, having long since forgone it as a luxury beneath him, and instead gathered his rest in this way: through deep, vigilant meditation, without ever dropping his guard so much that a distant energy, or even a momentary disturbance in the wind, went unnoticed. It was the burden he chose to bare, and he prided himself in it, content that it satisfied and reconciled all three persons that made up his being.

Uub, however, often did sleep, though this night he did not. Early on in his training, he had slept very little; at such a young age, his captivation had terrified and confused him, and his being left alone in the desert had only amplified the problem. He'd missed many nights of sleep in those days, crying his way through the night, or, in one particularly violent outburst, raging against the planet itself as his power lashed out of control.

He had mellowed since then, however. There was the night he had feared he would starve to death, only to wake the next day to find a pile of fruit next to him. There was the morning after his violent rampage when he looked down expecting to see his clothes had been torn to shreds and left him to face the barren desert without protection, only to find they had been replaced with new, resiliently woven battle attire.

There was Piccolo, who's appearance and demeanor had terrified him at first, but who Uub had come to know over time not as a tyrant or sadist, but a father figure who seemed to live and die on his progress, as though his entire self worth was predicated on Uub's success, and who Uub strove desperately to please every day of his life. And, finally, there were the Sons: Gohan, who seemed to understand his plight and sympathized with him more than anyone else ever had, and Goten who allowed him to free his power without reservation or fear, and more, seemed to revel in the challenge of matching himself against it, and then would drop his guard and joke as if they were two children playing in the sand back in his village and the fight had never happened.

Tonight, however, was more difficult. The meeting with Trunks had rattled him, but many things in the last 18 months had that effect; it was Trunks's words that bothered him most: "That monster's going to get out of him."

Uub was under no false pretenses; Piccolo had told him what he was early on: a reincarnation of an enslaved creation that had grown too powerful for it's master, the Kais, or even the Super Saiyans to control, and that only through a combination of divine interference and luck had been killed, and indirectly revived, by Gohan. At only four years old, the existential dilemma this might have caused hadn't set in, but he understood that he was different, and powerful, and that there were likely to be those who mistrusted him. Trunks, he gathered, was one such person. Still, the notion that he was still that monster, or worse, that he was only the shell around which the monster was trapped and might someday escape, robbed him of whatever peace he might have known.

"I know what you're thinking, and that's not you." Piccolo said without opening his eyes. Uub, however, did open his, and jerked his head to attention, as shocked that Piccolo would say anything at all while still in meditation as he was at the words themselves.

"That used to be me." Piccolo continued, "Only I wasn't just a monster; I was a demon, and an alien, too. But I'm not now; I'm as much an Earthling as any human, and I haven't been a demon since I was your age. Don't ever think you can't change what you were born, Uub."

With that, Piccolo returned to his trance, and Uub, utterly confused by Piccolo's revelation but relieved to find out his master shared in his plight, closed his eyes and, before the night was over, found sleep.

Miles away, four tents sat around a campfire in a valley. Yamcha had made it to Korin's tower late that evening and sent Gorra to his camp, and then found Naken, the last of his students, at Kame House, and sent him as well. Krillin had caught him when he arrived and asked him to begin recruiting for Roshi and Shen, and eager to contribute to the cause, he had set out at once, bound for the prominent powers he had elected not to recruit when he was initially choosing his students. Now, in the middle of the night, Nein, Naken, Hammur, and Gorra sat around the campfire, and as they had done for years, shared their lives with one another.

"So, I guess playtime's over. You guys excited?" Hammur said. The first of Yamcha's students, Hammur had been the strongest when the group first met, and while the others had long since closed the gap, and all four remained very close, the title had jockeyed most often between him and Nein. He was never overtly braggadocios, but he carried an ere of superiority with him, and was more vocal than the others. Most notably, he relished any training that allowed him to fight unrestrained, preferring the fire of battle over monotonous drills or meditation.

"Why would we be excited?" Nein Shinhan replied, his arms crossed. Nein was reserved, but when he spoke, he spoke plainly, a habit that had led to more than a few confrontations with Hammur. His time with Tien had done little to aid his social skills, and he now seemed more aware than ever of his human limitations. "An army's coming to destroy the Earth, and we're not strong enough to stop it. I'm not excited for anything except getting back to work."

"It's not so much about us." Naken chimed in, "We'll do what we're told, and we'll fight. Anything beyond that is out of our control. We just need to make sure we're ready." Naken was diplomatic, often finding himself playing the role of peacekeeper within the group. While technically the weakest of the four, he found that he was perhaps the most gifted in mastering new techniques and manipulating energy, and at many points surpassed his classmates. He also lacked the thirst for battles his comrades shared, much preferring the practice of martial arts to it's life-threatening application. If not for a fierce commitment to his friends and home, would have preferred to avoid the impending war altogether. It was he and Nein that had bonded first, initially over their shared Eastern heritage, then over their level-headedness relative to their peers, and had created the group's first successful fusion, Neiken.

"It's our limitations that hurt us." Gorra finally chimed in. "Maybe if we could stay as Okami permanently, then we could fight alongside the Super Saiyans. As it is, I just want to find a way to fill whatever my limit is. If I do that, the battle will take care of itself." The irony of this statement was not lost on the others; at first introduction, Gorra had been by far the weakest of the four, lacking even basic understanding of energy. He had improved leaps and bounds, however, even surpassing the others at several points. Whenever their masters introduced a new technique, Gorra lagged behind, as it was often completely foreign to him, but once he grasped it, he frequently produced it in a force none of the others could match. It was no secret within the group that, if given the time, Gorra stood to become the most powerful among them. His tenacity in training had originally led to friction when it contrasted with Hammur's cocky edge, but as the two came to understand one another, they, too, formed a close friendship, and eventually formed the group's second fusion, Gammur.

"You guys are depressing." Hammur said with a smile, "So we're not the strongest one's out here, yet. We get a chance to save the world, and we get to fight the strongest guy in the universe. You can't tell me that doesn't get your blood flowing! I'm telling you now, I'm not backing down from anybody. Maybe I can't do it, but if I get half a chance, I'm aiming to take that Freeza guy's head off."

"It's a nice thought, I'll admit." Nein said, almost cracking a smile, "But be realistic; with what we're up against, we'll be lucky to come out of this alive. I've made peace with that, but it's not something I'm looking forward to."

"That's why we're working, right?" Naken said, "I don't wanna die, either, but thinking about that doesn't help anything. We work, we fight, and whatever happens after that happens. I just don't wanna be the one that holds us back…"

"You're all too dramatic." Gorra said, leaning forward and staring directly into the fire. "It's either 'kill Freeza or die trying' with all of you. Who cares if we're the heroes? And say we die: so what? We all got into this to protect our homes. If we die trying, that's a warrior's death. This is the path we've chosen.

"Besides," he said, rising up from his seat in front of the fire, "we've got the Saiyans at the tip of our spear. Any way you turn it, the world won't live and die on us. We'll do our part, and if we're heroes or dead men, so be it." He then turned and left, slipping into his tent.

"Gorra's right." Nein said, rising from his seat. "Worrying won't help. We'd better rest. Tomorrow'll be the hardest day we've had yet."

The group then entered their respective tents for the night, preparing themselves for the most grueling stretch of their young lives.

The next day was particularly grueling for all parties. As the planning began, Popo was sent out to gather the Dragon Balls, with the goal of having them readily available in case the need arose, and Piccolo had assured him that it would, especially since the Namkeian Dragon Balls were no longer available to them. Anxious to get his men back to work, Piccolo announced that the battle plan must be finalized that day so implementation could begin, meaning even the minutiae of the formations had to be worked out. Krillin informed him of the potential for 17 to join the force, and after some convincing, 17 was penciled in as the second fulcrum, sans his consent.

After hours upon hours of explanations and debating, the following forces were agreed upon, with all members of the Council satisfied:

East: Shen, Tien, 17, Hammur, Nein, Naken, Gorra

West: Roshi, Krillin, 18, Yamcha, Yajirobe, Videl

Central: Piccolo, Uub, Gohan, Goten, Trunks

Rotating: Dende, Popo

To summarize the conversations: Krillin and Roshi had been assigned as the leadership of the Western front, due to the location of Roshi's home and their familiarity with one another, and 18 had been given their fulcrum position, so that she and Krillin could fight together. As a result, Tien, Shen, and 17 had been assigned to the Eastern front, where the Crane School was located. To compensate for the responsibility of handling the unpredictable 17, Krillin and Roshi had ceded all four components of Okami to the East, as all parties agreed it was essential they stay together. Yamcha, Yajirobe, and Videl, as the strongest remaining fighters, were all assigned to the West as a means of balancing the formations.

Finally, Dende and Popo were given a special position. At Piccolo's suggestion, Popo's carpet and it's incredible speed were to be used to ferry Dende between the battles, healing the wounded as he went, with Popo serving as his body guard while he performed his duty. All parties were enthusiastic about the plan, but with Popo no longer assigned to the battlefield, the West was now short one body, leading to another debate:

"Come on, Tien..." Krillin was pleading, exhausted from the day of arguing, "We gave you Okami even though that meant separating Yamcha from all of them. You've already got more people, you can't have Chiaotzu, too."

Tien rubbed his face before speaking, "I understand that, but we're talking about training new recruits anyway, just take a bigger share of those and let me keep Chiaotzu. He's not gonna be his best without me anyway."

"Alright, enough." Piccolo interjected, equally tired of the argument, "We're too thin for us to be playing favorites, Tien. Chiaotzu's training makes him too valuable to replace with new fighters, and frankly, we don't need you worrying about protecting him during the battle. He fights in the West, end of discussion." Tien was displeased, but kept his silence as Piccolo continued, "Now, the West is still getting the short side of our power. Think hard, everyone, we don't need a new Goku, but we need a serious fighter to help Videl cover her position."

After a long moment of silence, Shen spoke up, "There's still my brother. He might not be on the level of you all, but it's a periphery position in the formation. With a little help from this girl, I'm sure he could hold it."

"We offered him a spot, remember?" Tien said, "He turned us down, why should we count on him now?"

"He turned down the shame of serving under your command, Tien." Shen replied, "This position would put him under Krillin and Roshi. He's been training with me for months in preparation, I'm sure he'd lunge at the chance to redeem himself if you'll let him have it."

"Well, you know him better than I do. Your call." Krillin said to Roshi.

Roshi thought long and hard, stroking his beard as he went before finally responding, "Tao has lived a deplorable life, there's no doubt about that. But even in my youth, it would've been all I could do to match him, and he does have a lifetime of combat experience. The war won't hinge on him, but the fate of our unit might. I say we accept him, yes."

"Then it's settled." Piccolo said, "We're adjourned until further notice. Shen, get your brother on board, and then get with Roshi about getting these new recruits ready. Half a year should be plenty to get our formations implemented, that gives you 12 months to have them up to snuff.

"Tien, get back to the Wolf students; until Yamcha gets back, it'll just be you and Krillin with them. Gohan, take over for me with Uub until I get back, then go back to work with Goten. As soon as the new recruits are trained, we'll all be at the islands around Kame House to implement the strategy. Krillin, let's get your wife; we've got one last stop before we start our push. Everyone tailor your training to these plans as much as possible. Good luck."

With that, the group walked outside and briefly said their goodbyes before heading off to their various assignments: Gohan down to Korin's Tower to collect Uub; Tien to the Wolf School camp where Yamcha's first students were already driving one another like mad men; Roshi and Shen to the Crane School campground to prepare for the incoming mob of students Yamcha was steadily building as he traveled. By the time the sun was setting, they had all reached their destinations and were well into their work.

Piccolo, Krillin, and 18 walked across a well-kept yard to an unassuming house in the country outside of West City, the sun setting behind them. 18 knocked on the door, and momentarily was face to face with a young man with dark, shoulder length hair.

"Oh…well hey, Sis." The young man said. 17 looked exactly as he always had, the only difference being his wardrobe, having exchanged his boyish clothes for more practical, tan-colored work attire, and having done away with his signature bandana. Eyeing Piccolo, he spoke again, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Just listen to them, we need your help." 18 replied, before letting herself into the home. 17 lingered until Krillin and Piccolo had passed, and after an awkward stare with the tall Namekian, followed the group inside and closed the door.

"I'll make it quick." Piccolo began, opting not to take a seat as the others had. "There's a war coming, and we need your help. You won't have to be the hero, but you might be the difference between a city standing or falling. Maybe even the whole Earth, in the long run."

"Hmmm" was the only response 17 offered, otherwise keeping his silence for a long moment before Krillin spoke up.

"Hey man, we really need you. 18 told us you've really settled down and made a home; without you we don't know what's going to happen to it. So…what do you say?"

17 still kept his silence, but shifted in his seat. "Anything else?" he finally asked.

"17, cut the crap." 18 broke in. "I don't wanna fight either, but this is our home and it needs our help. Just say you'll fight so we can go home."

"Who said I didn't want to fight?" 17 asked, flashing a self-satisfied smile, "Sure, I'll join. I've just got a feeling there's a catch coming."

"No catch." Piccolo said, rising to leave, "There's a year and a half or so before the battle. We'll start formal training in about a year, but I suggest you get in shape on your own or with 18 in the meantime. We'll see you then."

"See, that's what I was talking about." 17 said, causing Piccolo to stop his path out the door and turn around, a serious look on his face. "I've got a life here, I'm not leaving it. I didn't get this power you guys want so much by training and I'm not gonna start now. You all just let me know when the fight's about to start and put me where you need me, I'll take care of the rest. It's what I was made to do, after all."

"Now you listen to m-" Piccolo started to bark, before Krillin and 18 both jumped to their feet and hushed him from behind 17. Another long stare down between Piccolo and 17 followed, before the Namekian stormed out of the house.

"Thanks, 17." Krillin said, "I sure wish you'd train with us, but we'll take what we can get."

"No problem." 17 said, still smiling confidently, "See you guys next year, I guess. Bye, Sis."

"Bye." She replied, as she flew into the sky with Krillin, already far behind Piccolo.

One week later, Roshi, Shen, and Tao were standing in a circle in the Crane School yard, each with one eye on each of their opponents, preparing to test one another's strength for the first time in hundreds of years. Roshi crouched to make the first move toward Shen, but stopped short, as all three turned their attention to a soft thundering off in the distance.

Moment by moment, the thundering grew louder and louder, and soon a visible billow of dust could be found on the horizon. Finally, the source of the commotion entered into sight: a mob, some fifty men strong, ranging in age from early their teens to their fifties. They were at full sprint across the Eastern plains, and at their head, his long, unkempt hair billowing behind him as he ran, was Yamcha.

"Hey, Master Roshi!" Yamcha exclaimed as he came to a stop beside his old teacher, the crowd settling behind him. "Got a delivery for ya. This is everybody I could find that I thought could get caught up in time for the fight. I set a pretty good pace on the way here, and these are the ones that kept up, so they oughta be off to a good start."

"I see." Roshi replied, "They look to be in fine form."

"Yeah, let's hope so." Yamcha said, "Hey guys, introduce yourselves real quick, then I gotta get back to work."

The first to step forward was a thin man with long horns atop his head in a blue spandex suit, surrounded by a large mummy, a small vampire, and, appearing out of thin air, a man that is best described as unassuming. "My name is Spike." He began, "And we are Baba's elite fighters. Pleasure to meet you again, Master Roshi."

The next three to step forward and speak hailed from the home regions of Yamcha's original students, sans Gorra: the Western plains and it's various small martial arts schools, the Eastern nomadic clans, and the Eastern temples. Each carried a consortium of ten to twelve men.

Finally, a tall man with long, dark hair and dark reddish skin stepped forward, a large spear in hand. "My name is Upa, and I am the guardian of Korin's Tower. These are my strongest warriors. It is an honor to serve next to you in this battle."

Tao locked eyes with the young warrior, but broke the glare quickly, not caring to open old wounds at first introduction.

"Well, that's almost everybody." Yamcha said, as he turned to leave.

"Almost?" Shen asked.

Yamcha smiled and pointed in the direction they had arrived, where one new dot had appeared in the distance. Huffing and puffing, it steadily gained ground, before finally reaching it's destination and falling facedown at Roshi's feet.

"Need…food…." Yajirobe was able to puff out out before rolling onto his back as he shirked the large turtle shell, his gigantic gut spilling over his belt.

"Nice of you to join us. You're in fine shape, I see." Roshi said sarcastically.

Seeing his comrade unable to respond, Yamcha spoke up, "I gave him that shell so he'd have to work on his way here, but in his defense, it is pretty heavy; it's the one Krillin was wearing when he trained Goten. Take his sword if you want so he has to learn to use his energy, but Upa insisted on bringing his spear, so I couldn't play favorites..."

"It is the heirloom of my position." Upa explained, "I cannot enter battle without it."

"Surely I can teach them to use both." Shen replied, "Well then, gather round, gentlemen! My name is Master Shen, and this is Master Roshi. We are the two finest martial arts masters in the last three hundred years or more, and it is your privilege to train under us for the next year. The next twelve months will be the most difficult of your lives. Accept that challenge now or leave."

Yajirobe sprung to attention, but no one else moved a muscle. Yamcha cracked a smile at Roshi, who returned it by saying, "Thank you, Yamcha. Get back to your students, we'll take it from here."

"Yes sir!" Yamcha replied, and waved goodbye to the mass of new recruits before bursting into the air to return to the Wolf School.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Pride and Pessimism

The days wore on and melted into weeks, and the weeks into months, as the warriors of Earth prepared for battle as they never had before. The elder warriors especially noted the contrast, as they had all been through stretches of battle preparation before (as many as four prior occasions in Tien's case), but had never before seen such a cohesively structured defense.

Piccolo attributed this contrast to the absence of Goku and Vegeta. In the past, Goku's mindless lust for battle and Vegeta's blind arrogance had steered the group toward reckless, and at times outright stupid, behavior in spite of the wealth of knowledge and experience available to them. Without peers to their power, there was little that could be done to stop them, as Future Trunks had demonstrated, despite his best efforts. Now, however, their champion was Gohan, and for all his power, his only allegiance was to the protection of Earth, and a subsequent return to peace.

Thanks to Gohan's deference to his elders, especially Piccolo, the Earth's warriors were not only growing in strength, but in knowledge and numbers as well. Within six months, Shen, Tao, and Roshi had every member of their fifty-man force firing their energy, to varying degrees of power. Within ten, they were all able to fly for upwards of an hour. Yajirobe shone as the star of their class, having been by far the strongest from the beginning of his training, and driven by Roshi's consistent threats of turning him over to Piccolo if he failed to live up to his potential.

Uub, unsurprisingly, became more fearsome by the day, and soon had reasonable control of his enormous potential, though he still struggled to bring his full power to the surface without being seriously provoked. Still, he was the most formidable fighter the Earth had, the Saiyans excluded, and Piccolo was proud of what the young warrior stood to become.

Perhaps no group progressed more spectacularly than the one that comprised Okami, however. Driven by pressure both from the impending war and the competition they provided one another, the four fighters of the Wolf School trained at a pace even their masters would have struggled to contend with. To be sure, they were no Super Saiyans, but even without the otherworldly training their masters had received, they each gained enough strength to force their masters to take them very seriously whenever a sparring match broke out.

Ten months into their renewed training, with all three of their masters present, the four humans formed Okami for the first time in months, sending a power shock over the entire planet. Gohan and Goten stopped mid-match to turn their heads to attention, as did Piccolo and Uub. Trunks, meditating over a small pool in the desert, felt the power and snapped his eyes open.

Okami dispersed and his four components reappeared before their masters, all awestruck at his newfound power.

"Geeze, guys…" Yamcha stammered, "Too bad your time limit's so low. I'm not sure Piccolo'd want anything to do with you now."

"That's our trump card, no doubt." Tien said, "I'm telling you now, if things get hairy, I'm giving you four my permission to fall out of the formation to make him and bail us out."

Krillin was preparing to offer his own evaluation when he felt a familiar power closing in, and the whole group looked up into the sky to see Trunks descending to the ground, to their utter shock.

Trunks's clothes were tattered from his training, but in contrast to the group's previous interactions with him, he didn't seem irritated or upset, but was perfectly calm, focused solely on the four younger warriors.

"Well, hello, Trunks." Tien said, "What brings you here."

"Got a score to settle while we've still got a little time." Trunks responded, before walking over to the four young fighters and addressing Gorra.

"Hey," he began, "last time we talked, we said we'd fight again, and I wouldn't have to hold back. Think you're finally up to it? I could use a sparring match."

Gorra usually lacked the boisterous personality Hammur carried, but was a bona fide warrior even before Yamcha ever happened upon him, and as such, reveled in the prospect of a battle as much as anyone on Earth. "I don't know how far you've come." He replied, "But as soon as we can form Okami again, we're ready."

"Sure that's a good idea, Trunks?" Tien asked, actively trying to irk his pupil, "Okami's come a long way, and you haven't had a training partner in a long time. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Trunks wasn't fooled by the ruse, and instead smiled to return the slight. "How long until he's ready?" He asked the young fighters.

"Fifteen more minutes." Hammur responded, joining Gorra in his anxiousness for the fight.

The group passed the time by breaking into subgroups to discuss strategy, Tien with Trunks, Yamcha with the four, and Krillin serving as an intermediary. Rules were established to contain the fight within roughly a half-mile radius and outlawing the most dangerous techniques, and the time limit finally evaporated.

Trunks stood ready and watched as the Wolf students lined up shoulder-to-shoulder and began their dance. Nein and Naken to his left, Hammur and Gorra to his right.

"Fuuuu-sion! HA!"

Suddenly two fighters stood before him, each carrying power that rivaled the strength Okami had carried during their first fight. The ritual was then repeated between the two new forms, and in their place stood Okami, identical to his previous form only in his appearance.

"No reason to waste time." Trunks said with a smirk, and flexed his muscles as a golden aura exploded around him. Everyone in attendance, even Okami, was taken aback by his power.

"Aaaaaand….GO!" Krillin yelled, dropping his arm for emphasis and jumping back out of the way.

The two fighters sprung at one another a few feet above the ground, and launched into a quick flurry of activity, which broke apart as Trunks landed a stiff right jab to Okami's jaw, causing him to momentarily retreat before diving back into the fray of battle.

Trunks went into a backward glide, deftly blocking and dodging Okami's onslaught for a long moment, before phasing out of sight and reappearing behind him and to his left. Trunks launched a roundhouse kick, which Okami saw coming and turned to block, but was far to slow.

The blow hit Okami between the shoulders and drove him into the dirt, digging a trench as he went. He quickly sprung to his feet and fired a massive blast at Trunks, but it was deftly batted away by the back of Trunks's hand. The two charged at each other again and drew their fists back for contact, but just as they were about to meet, Trunks phased out of sight again, and reappeared to Okami's right as Okami sent his punch into the space where Trunks's jaw had been a millisecond before.

Trunks rotated and dropped his right elbow into the base of Okami's neck between his shoulder blades, sending him face down into the dirt. Okami rolled to face his opponent, but when he did, found himself looking directly into a large yellow ball of light in Trunks's hand.

The two locked eyes for a moment, and Trunks allowed the ball to dissipate and his hair to droop and return to it's normal color. "Man…that's disappointing." He said.

Okami rose to his feet, furious at the disrespect, but held his ground.

"Guess we'll call it there." Krillin said, "Hey Trunks, maybe you should go spar with Goten and Gohan. Okami's coming along great, but he'd probably have to go in the Time Chamber if he's gonna be able to catch you in that form before Freeza gets here."

Trunks's ears perked up at the mention of the Time Chamber, but he kept his composure. "No thanks, this was about settling a score and getting a quick match. I was hoping he'd be able to give me a real challenge, but I guess that wasn't meant to be."

Turning his attention to Okami, Trunks continued, "You're stronger, no doubt. When you can give me a challenge, let me know."

With that, he rose back into the air, and returned to solitude.

A few minutes of stewing later, Okami diffused, spawning four furious young warriors, fresh off their humbling defeat.

"Come ON!" Hammur yelled as he pounded the ground, "We didn't even land a punch!"

"Master Krillin," Naken said, as frustrated as any of the others, you said there is a place where we can improve our strength, let us go to it!"

"I don't know about that." Krillin responded, "The Time Chamber's got a time limit of two days, we need to save it until it's absolutely necessary. And from what I'm told, it's not an easy place to stay for very long. Okami could do it, for sure, but I'm not sure you guys would even survive it for very long…"

"An hour ago we were the greatest thing you all had ever seen." Nein said, "Now we're too weak to become strong."

"Welcome to my world." Yamcha said with a laugh, "Look guys, Trunks is a Super Saiyan with years of training. That wasn't really a fair fight. It's good training, just the same."

"That's not what's upsetting us." Gorra said, "He was a completely different fighter from his fight with Goten. We're losing ground!"

"If he's not ready for Freeza, how much farther behind are we?" Nein asked, piling on to the inquiries.

After a long moment of silence, Tien spoke up, "We've still got two months of training on our own, and eight months before Freeza gets here. If you don't like where you are, I suggest you get to work, not risk your lives because you lost a sparring match to a Super Saiyan. We're not that desperate."

With that, the group's self pity was put aside, and their work continued.

All the while, Freeza's army closed in on Earth. Planet by planet their force grew, both in size and strength. Freeza himself grew more powerful and cunning with every battle, as did his generals, Shisami and Tagoma. Now over two years since Freeza's resurrection, they had yet to lose a meaningful battle.

When twelve months had passed, leaving roughly half a year until the Armada's scheduled arrival, Piccolo personally traveled to each camp of the Earth's preparatory forces and sent them to the islands around Kame House. There, he had set aside three adjacent islands to represent the eastern, western, and central areas of the battle. The new recruits were split in half: The Western forces were composed of the small Western martial arts schools, Upa and his tribe, Spike and the invisible man from Baba's team, all under Krillin and Roshi; the Eastern side was made up of the nomads and monks from the East, and Baba's Mummy and Vampire, under Tien and Shen's direction.

For all their organization, however, Trunks and 17 remained absent from the training. Piccolo had resigned himself to this: 17 was a wildcard, and was as likely to no-show the battle as he was to be it's savior; best not to push him. And Trunks, for all his pride and power, had continued to distance himself from the group, and was at best only their third-strongest warrior. Additionally, Piccolo had elected not to harness his central force with a formation, instead allowing them to fight freely as the battle came, so Trunk's absence from this training was no great loss.

Over the next months, the formations were drilled to perfection. Piccolo and Goten, sans his transformations, generally served as 17's substitute in the center of the East's formation, while Gohan or whichever of the two was not at the fulcrum attacked each funnel at the times when one unit wasn't attacking the other in semblance of Freeza's army.

The East coalesced well, anchored by its balance on either side of the fulcrum by the Wolf School students, and while 17's absence worried Tien and Shen greatly, they grew more confident by the day. They had two legitimately powerful fighters to either side of their fulcrum, and a potential new fighter of even greater strength could be summoned at any time. Still, the absence of the fighter who would serve their most vital position kept the unit from fully coalescing.

The West, though very suspect at the beginning due to it's relative lack of power, grew more stable by the day. 18 proved herself a formidable anchor to the formation, using her seemingly endless energy supply to turn the forces away from her and back into the formation for hours at a time, and then emerging no worse for the wear. Yajirobe, now substantially lighter, made a comparable mirror to Yamcha at 18's side, and Chiaotzu, despite his unfamiliar absence from Tien, shone in his role of manipulating his adversaries rather than confronting them outright. Even Videl and Tao, the two weakest fighters in the interior of either formation, and an odd pairing, to be sure, learned to fight together well, and soon their positions were as ironclad as could reasonably be expected or hoped for.

Krillin and Roshi were especially excited by Spike and his Devilmite Beam, an attack that rivaled any of the trump cards the humans had ever developed. It was slow, not particularly accurate, and left him vulnerable when he fired it, but there was no questioning it's destructive potential. If it hit it's mark, it was capable of taking out any foe they might possibly face. Piccolo briefly considered pulling Spike into his own force, but after noting the setup required for it to be effective and the amount of effort that would have to be devoted to protecting Spike against Freeza, decided against it.

Freeza reached his final stop on a planet of little renown just outside our solar system. In a few hours, the planet was his, with virtually no resistance. Here he made camp, roughly two day's travel from Earth, and began to make his final adjustments.

His forces were split evenly between Shisami and Tagoma, and they were given their assignments: Shisami was to lead the attack on East City, Tagoma on West City. Their men were battle savvy, and well drilled, for the most part. They were not, however, especially powerful, though there were a few within their ranks that excepted this rule. Primarily, the Freeza Armada had three true warriors: Shisami, Tagoma, and Freeza himself.

To a man, these three were fearsome, each of their names striking terror throughout the galaxy. Both Tagoma and Shisami had surpassed Freeza's power in his previous life, but even so, they dared not cross their master. Though he very rarely entered his final form, Freeza had grown immensely powerful, and his obsession with vengeance had driven him to lengths of cruelty that would have shocked even his former self. He was anxious for Earth, but allowed his temper to be cooled by Sorbet, so as not to rush into an ambush as he had on his last visit. The night before they were to leave for Earth, his generals were brought in and briefed one last time.

"Remember, gentlemen," Freeza said as the meeting came to a close, "nothing but complete and utter domination of Earth is acceptable. For all the good you've done, I tell you now: better you die on the battlefield to the cruelest of the Earthlings than you return to me with anything less than absolute victory. I will have my vengeance, and every human will bow before me. Your lives are valuable only so long as they are useful to that cause. Do you understand?"

"Yes, lord Freeza!" the two echoed in unison as they saluted.

"Good. News of victory will be rewarded handsomely, I assure you. Bring me a Saiyan head, and any planet you wish aside from Earth will be yours to do with as you please. You are dismissed."

Outside the ship, Shisami could hold his tongue no longer, "Three years, just to take revenge on two dead men. With all their warriors, how many men will we lose on this mission? It's foolish!"

"You'd best watch your tongue." Tagoma replied. Tall, thin, and blue in stark contrast to Shisami's red, bull-like figure, Shisami was by far the more agreeable of the two to Freeza's conquests. "Go on and desert if you like; I'm only hopeful the Earthlings choose my force to attack. For all their strength, they're no match for my mind or my body. When this is behind us, I intend to be the ruler of whichever half the galaxy Freeza doesn't choose."

"Pshh. 'Desert.'" Shisami responded sarcastically, "I hope I am lucky enough to have all three Saiyans offer me their heads. All I said was this is poor strategy; I have no intention of backing out. Watch who you call a coward, Tagoma. Freeza may not always be here to protect you."

Tagoma gave only a cocky grin in reply, and went about his business of gathering his troops. Shisami, after momentarily stewing, did the same.

King Kai reported Freeza's final stop to Piccolo and Dende, ending the conversation with, "Well guys, that's all I can do. Two more days. Good luck. We're all counting on you."

Piccolo relayed the news to his council, and they, in turn, to their troops. That night, everyone was allowed to return to their homes, with explicit instructions to report to the Lookout early the next day so as to be set in formation a full 24 hours before Freeza touched down.

The next morning, all the fighters gathered on the floor of the Lookout, many of them for the first time. Even 17 and Trunks arrived, though they kept mostly to themselves. From Piccolo's view on the palace doorstep, his troops blotted out the tile of the Lookout's plaza, though they were only about 70-persons strong. They stood in stark contrast to the thousands Freeza would bring, but a force this powerful had never before been assembled in defense of the Earth.

Bulma arrived in a flying car with the non-combatant members of the Z-Fighters families, who intended to weather the storm of war in the confines of the palace. While the rest sought out their loved ones, she cleared space and threw out a capsule containing a large crate, which opened to reveal stacks upon stacks of formfitting battle armor.

The armor bore some resemblance to Saiyan battle attire, but rather than attaching as a single suit, was mostly comprised of units of pads. Bulma pulled out decks of pads designed to cover shoulders, hips, and shins, each padded and rounded to cover the bones they were designed to protect. The sleeves to which the pads were attached were jet-black, and the pads themselves a dark red.

"They won't help you kill Freeza, but they might keep you fighting a little longer." She said to one of Upa's men as she handed him a stack.

Many of the new recruits took individual pieces, and some took complete sets, but the more seasoned warriors declined, opting for their traditional attire.

Gohan found Krillin amid the hubbub and got his attention, "Hey man," he said, "I know you can't play favorites or anything but...take care of Videl for me, ok?"

"You got it!" Krillin said as he smiled up at Gohan, "Just like she was one of mine."

Korin walked up to Piccolo and handed him three small bags, one containing five senzu beans, the other two containing twelve each.

"It's the best I could do." he said, "It's not much, but it's everything I've got. Good luck out there."

"We'll take it." Piccolo replied calmly, "Thank you."

Shen and Roshi each approached Piccolo and collected one of the larger bags, placing them in their waistbands for safekeeping. As they arrived, Piccolo waved over Tien and Krillin as well. "I'm trusting all of you." he said, "Just remember: No more mercy. We certainly won't receive any." To which the group all nodded seriously.

The chatter among the troops was growing louder by the moment when Piccolo finally barked "QUIET!" and all noise came to a screeching halt.

Composing himself, he continued, "Tomorrow, we face the most powerful force the universe has ever known. Defeat will mean death to every one of us, if we're lucky. Our enemy aims to kill you, enslave your families, and establish his capital on this planet. Make no mistake, defeat and surrender are not options."

If it were possible, the Lookout floor grew even quieter, some staring resolutely back at Piccolo, some quivering where they stood.

"However," Piccolo continued, his booming voice resonating off the tile, "you're ready. Our enemy doesn't expect a force of your caliber. You've all been put through the crucible, and you have nothing to fear. I won't lie to you: it's likely many of you will die; perhaps most of you; perhaps even me. But you all know that, and if you weren't prepared, you wouldn't be standing here before me now. Now, go get ready for war, and tomorrow, when the enemy and death are baring down on you, hold your ground, strike back, and let them know that we are the Earth!"

The platform erupted into a mighty roar as the Earthlings let out their resounding approval of Piccolo's words. Gohan found himself covered in goose bumps, but couldn't help laughing, having never heard Piccolo raise his voice for any cause other than to chastise, let alone for such an impassioned speech.

"Alright, that's my cue." Tien said to Chiaotzu, "Be safe, buddy. I'll see you on the other side." Tien flew into the air and yelled "Eastern unit, on me!" and blasted off to the east, trailed by thirty-some odd men, Shen, after exchanging a long look with Tao, at their rear. Krillin, now cleanly shaven on both his head and face in preparation of battle, followed suit, rising up and yelling, "Alright, Westerners, let's go!" and a force of equal size followed him to the west, with Roshi at their tail. Finally Piccolo rose into the air, and wordlessly flew north, with Uub on his tail.

Those who would be fighting separately from their loved ones lingered behind a moment longer. Chi Chi and Bulma smothered Goten and Trunks, and, for once, they didn't struggle. Now 13 and 14 years old, respectively, and entering their second major conflict, they fully understood the gravity and the consequences of the situation. When they finally released them, Chi Chi found Maron and clutched her tightly in place of her son, and Bulma ran and hugged Gohan.

Gohan kissed his mother and then Videl goodbye and made her promise to stay safe, as she did to him. Now a fully grown man, and a seasoned veteran to boot, Gohan, too, was fully aware of the risks that lay in store. Finally, the remaining fighters flew off to their respective positions in eery silence.

That night, the camps were restless. Many of the fighters had never experienced a real battle before, and the combination of stress and excitement was heavy on their minds. Still, most willed themselves to sleep, and the rest forced themselves to rest as best they could.

Piccolo's camp had less trouble than their counterparts. Piccolo, of course, only meditated, but little could keep Goten from sleeping early and hard, and Uub, now accustomed to life threatening stress, followed suit. Gohan stayed up a while, meditating next to Piccolo, but eventually gave in and went into his tent. Trunks kept mostly to himself, flying alone to the site and meditating inside his tent upon arrival.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, content that everyone had long since gone to sleep, Trunks crawled out of his tent and drifted silently away into the night. Piccolo watched him go, and started to confront him, but decided against it, opting not to risk waking the others, and to trust Trunks one last time. He let out a heavy exhale, and went back to his meditation.

Trunks touched down quietly on the Lookout floor, and crept into the palace, wary of the guests staying inside that night. Content that they were asleep, he found his way to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, gently cracked the door open, stepped inside, and slowly shut the door behind him.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The Cold War

The next morning was windy and cool as Piccolo stood on the edge of the cliff facing the location Freeza was scheduled to land on in a few hours, his cape billowing in the wind behind him and the clouds overhead threatening rain. Gohan walked up beside him and mimicked his cross-armed, wide-legged pose.

"One more time, huh big guy?" Gohan said.

"Just one more?" Piccolo replied, causing them both to crack nervous smiles.

Uub walked out soon thereafter, and Gohan handed him some food his mother had prepared beforehand. "Sorry I couldn't get anything from your home, buddy." Gohan said, "After this is all over, you can go take a long visit. I promise."

Uub nodded sadly and ate quietly, his mind already heavy without the burden of his long lost family occupying more of his attention. Soon, Goten crawled out of his tent and began to eat heartily, and Gohan joined them around the campfire, though Piccolo never moved.

"Hey, where's Trunks?" Goten asked, "Hey, Trunks, wake up! We gotta get ready!"

"Trunks isn't here." Piccolo said, not bothering to turn to face the group. "He left last night to cram in more training, he'll be back for the battle. Just worry about yourselves."

Gohan and Goten gave one another uneasy looks, but they trusted Piccolo, so they kept their silence.

On the western front Krillin crawled out early in an attempt to be the first one up, but to his surprise, both Roshi and Yamcha had beaten him to the mark.

"There he is! 'Bout time!" Yamcha said, "And look, he even brought the old uniform!"

"Hey, I never left the Turtle School." Krillin shot back, noting Yamcha's attire, "What's your excuse?"

"Well, I figured since none of my students are here to see me, I might as well fight in what I'm comfortable in." Yamcha replied. The two wore the same identical orange gi's they had worn for years, complete with their Turtle School Kanjis. Through the whole conversation, Roshi remained quiet, as he stoically faced the direction from which the enemy would be approaching.

Out in the east, Tien was quietly meditating long before even Shen woke up, more nervous than he had ever been before a battle. He had grown accustomed to having stronger allies on his side, and even here he would, but the fact that the only fighters in his party he couldn't match were inexperienced and unpredictable left him uneasy. He found peace in his meditation and was soon joined on both sides by the four Wolf School fighters. Soon, Shen roused the camp out of their slumber, and began to set them in the formation.

"So just stand right here and fight, right?" 17 asked the old man.

"Well, I assume our enemy will be attacking through the air, so you'll have to fly." Shen replied, "But essentially, yes. The other troops will send the enemy right here, just hold this position and keep them in front of you. And whatever you do, don't leave to pursue them. The whole formation depends on you stopping them right here. Understood?"

"Yeah, sure." He replied, "Stay put and fight, easy enough. It is what I was made to do, after all."

Shen and Tien exchanged nervous glances, but there was little to be done, so they went on about their work.

Some ten miles north of Piccolo's central unit, the sky was cloudy and calm, but was suddenly blotted out by a massive fleet of warships. 40 massive spacecraft's originating from planets all over the galaxy descended down to Earth in one motion, like a giant curtain crashing to the stage. As soon as they landed, massive doors opened, revealing large ramps as 250 men poured out onto the ground below and quickly formed into uniform, prearranged lines according to their assignment. In total, 10,000 alien soldiers in tightly organized lines stood at attention, awaiting further orders.

Finally, the mother ship descended to Earth, a gargantuan cylindrical structure with convex windows on all sides. Its massive door opened, and out stepped the short, horned dictator, flanked by his even-shorter blue assistant, and then his two taller, imposing generals.

Freeza waved Sorbet forward and he began to shout orders. "Alright, men! First Company, on General Shisami! General Shisami has the coordinates, you are roughly three hours travel to your destination! Take the city, establish communication with the mother ship, and wait for further orders! Second Company, on General Tagoma! Your orders are the same, follow his lead to your destination!

"Third Company! You are to stay here at the command of Lord Freeza and myself! On our order, you are to reinforce whichever company we deem most appropriate! Until then, you are the personal guards of the Armada! Understood!?"

"SIR!" the horde echoed in unison.

Tagoma and Shisami stepped forward to take their commands. "Good luck." Freeza said with a sadistic smile, "Do not disappoint me."

"Sir!" the two replied, and then rose into the air perfectly synchronized, raised their right arms to signal their men, and then flew off at a steady pace to their destination, as their men billowed out in file behind them, each with over 3,000 soldiers at his flank in lines ten across and over three hundred deep.

"They're in the air." Piccolo said, as Gohan gritted his teeth.

"Here they come." Tien said to the four Wolf Students, who nodded in response.

"This is it." Krillin said to Roshi and 18, who looked on solemnly.

"Everyone hold your ground." Piccolo said, sensing his team's desire to jump into the air and cut off the forces early. "Stick to the plan, we're fine. At that pace they won't even meet our traps for another two hours or more."

"Come on, where is Trunks?" Gohan asked nervously.

"He'll be here, just stay focused." Piccolo replied, "And keep your power suppressed, we don't need one of you alerting those scouters and giving away our position."

"He better be..." Goten commented under his breath, his frustration with his old friend mounting by the moment.

On the eastern path, Shisami was anxious. "I'll have that city leveled before Tagoma ever sees his." he said to himself, "Men, on me!" Spurred on by ambition, he kicked his troops into high gear, pulling closer to the city and ahead of Tagoma's Company. The change in pace did not go unnoticed by the Earthlings.

"They just picked up speed." Tien said to Shen, the two of them now standing behind a fully formed funnel formation. "It won't be long now."

At their new speed, Shisami's Company began eating away the distance to East City, cutting down on their projected travel time immensely. Tagoma, for his part, kept his troops at their cautious, steady pace, wary of an Earthling ambush.

"They'll hit Tien's formation in less than an hour." Piccolo said to no one in particular. It was now mid-morning, and though the morning fog had cleared, the sky remained dreary and overcast.

"Come on, where are you, Trunks?" Gohan said to himself. "We don't have much time!"

No sooner had he said it then he and Piccolo simultaneously jerked their heads over their shoulders and looked off into the distance. Goten followed suit, and soon realized what had drawn their attention.

"Hey, there he is!" Goten yelled. And he's heading this way! He'll be here before we have to jump in for sure!"

Sure enough, Trunks's energy was steadily approaching from the direction of the Lookout, albeit at a slow pace. Relieved, the group relaxed and focused on Freeza's forces for the next half hour as Trunks drew in on them.

"What's taking him so long?" Uub asked Piccolo.

"Probably just trying to keep his power suppressed." Gohan replied, maintaining focus on Freeza's two forces. Ten minutes later, Shisami was unwittingly bearing down on the eastern funnel, and Trunks had drawn to within 50 miles of Piccolo's location, when they suddenly felt him stop.

"Huh? Why'd he land?" Gohan asked aloud.

"Maybe he forgot where we are." Goten offered, "It's not like he can feel us. I can power up and signal him real fast."

"No, you idiot!" Piccolo barked, "You'll give us away! Errrrr…Goten, if you go now, you can get him and bring him here before Tien's forces start their fight. Keep your power low, but hurry!"

"Right!" Goten exclaimed, and glided into the air, careful not to put off more energy than necessary.

Though Tagoma was still roughly an hour from Krillin's Company, Shisami's group was only about ten minutes from hitting Tien's when Goten found Trunks standing with his arms crossed beneath a large rock formation. Strangely, his hair had grown shoulder-length overnight, and he had it tied behind his head, presumably to keep it out of his eyes. He also looked slightly taller and more muscular, much to Goten's confusion.

"Hey! Trunks!" He yelled as he descended, "We're still up ahead a few miles, come on while we've still got time!"

"Nope."

Goten, now grounded and dumbfounded, stared wide-eyed for a moment before replying, "What do you mean 'no'? Freeza's army's gonna hit Tien's team any second, and when they do he's gonna send reinforcements! We gotta cut 'em off!"

"Would you relax? I'm still farther north than either formation, I'll be able to cut off the reinforcements way before they hit any of our guys if you guys can't stop them."

Goten was growing anxious and irritated, "If we can't stop them? What, so now you're not even gonna fight with us? Why not?!"

Trunks gave an agitated glare, "Hey, I'll fight with you. Stay back here with me, and when they mess it up, and they _will_ , then we'll take care of it."

"Start making sense, Trunks…"

"Geeze, Goten, you're so naïve. Look, just trust me, we're a lot better off if we're not standing there when they do something stupid, alright? They always do. And besides, I'm not real keen on fighting with any of those guys, anyway."

"Trunks we don't have time for this!" Goten was quickly losing his composure and his voice was rising with every outburst, "What is your deal?! You won't train with us, you won't talk to us, you won't camp with us, now you won't even fight with us! Are you even on our side?! Get it together and come on!"

Now Trunks, too, was beginning to yell, "I'm here ready to fight, aren't I?! But excuse me if I don't wanna do it next the monster that killed my father and the idiots that brought him!"

"Don't act like this is about Uub, this goes back way longer than him! You've been like this ever since I saw you at the tournament! This is about Gohan, isn't it?!"

"Yeah, you're right, it is!" Trunks was now approaching full-on hysteria, It's about all of them! It must be real easy playing dumb about the past, Goten, but here it is! Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, they're all idiots! Every fight they've ever been in they've done somethings stupid that almost ends the world! But I could live with that; at least I know they'd die trying to help me if I needed them to! But not Gohan, he wouldn't be there!"

"Watch it, Trunks…"

"It's true! You know what happened against Cell? They were all getting killed by his little minions, and Gohan was just standing there watching! And you know what set him off? Some robot told him it was ok to fight! And then he did it! He hit the next level and killed 'em all! All that power just came to him out of nowhere! And you know what he did next? He started playing with Cell instead of finishing him off, and he got me and your dad killed, and nearly the whole world!"

"Are you out of your mind?! He saved your dad and the whole world that day, and you wanna talk about his one mistake?! He was a kid!"

"Yeah, he was! But then when Buu came he wasn't a kid, was he? And he wasn't ready! He didn't train or anything, even though he should've been the strongest one on Earth! And then when that Kai just handed him all that power, you remember what he did? He just let Buu go and put us back in there, just to toy with Buu! We were kids, but he knew better! But he did it anyway, and he didn't save my dad that time did he?! Or you, or me, or anybody except himself, and if he hadn't got a lucky break he wouldn't have even done that! He hasn't done anything to deserve all that power, but it's his, and he still messes everything up every time! Why would I trust him now?!"

"SHUT UP!" Goten's hair sparked gold around him as he screamed! "You act like you're so much better than him because he made some mistakes! So WHAT?! We did, too, sometimes that happens in a battle! And you act like you're so much better than me because you think you're so smart! Well I've HAD IT! This hasn't been easy for me either! I've been through pain too, but I'm not whining, I'm ready to fight! We're just the same, you know?!"

"THE SAME?!" Now Trunks's hair shot golden as well, "You're a fool! Everything comes so easy for you, too! You're just like Gohan! This power just comes to you and you take it for granted, you don't know anything about pain or work or failure! And your dad _chose_ to stay dead, mine gave up everything, right down to his soul! And Goku's the Kai's Guardian or whatever, you're gonna see him again, he's not gone! You barely even knew him, anyway! You've never lost anything! The only thing the same about you and me, is that both of our dads are _dead_ because of _YOUR BROTHER_!"

" _AHHHHH_!"

Unable to take it anymore, Goten snapped and blindly charged forward, completely forgetting his mission. Before Trunks could react, he had burst forward and landed a hard right cross to the side of Trunks's mouth, snapping his head to the side and causing him to stagger backward three steps before he could regain his balance.

Trunks stood upright and wiped his mouth, then examined his hand to see fresh blood on his fingertips. Eerily calmed from the shock of the attack, he rubbed his fingers together to dry the blood, looked at Goten, and said, "So, this is how you want it to be?"

"This is how you made it!" Goten yelled, rage burning in his eyes. He dropped his elbows to his hips, and with an "AH!" his hair shot bolt upright and lightening shot around his body. "I can't take this anymore! I can't take you pretending to be one of us while you talk about hating Gohan and killing Uub and acting like everyone but you is trash! I don't know even know who you are anymore! If you're with us, let's go, today's the day to prove it! And if you're not, then I'm done trying to bring you back! I'm not gonna sit around and wait for you to make up your mind if you wanna be one of us or kill us in our sleep! And I'm not gonna go fight a monster like Freeza with you if you're gonna turn around and be the next monster I have to fight! This ends now!"

"Well, alright then." Trunks replied, "I knew somebody'd find a way to mess this up, I just didn't think it'd be you. Fine, I've got time to settle this and take care of Freeza, too, if this is how you want it." With that, he jerked his left elbow to his hip and gave a hard "ERR!" as his hair, too, fired bolt upright, and lighting began to pulsate across his body. "Get ready, Goten. I'm not dragging this out."

"No..." Gohan said, utter shock on his face as he felt the energy spikes from Goten and Trunks. "They can't be this stupid…"

Piccolo was doing everything he could to suppress his rage, "Forget it!" he finally snapped, "There's no time for them! We'll fight without them, the Eastern Unit is about to be attacked any second! Their scouters haven't picked anything up yet, but stay ready, we don't know what they're about to do."

Gohan was unsure and enraged, but Uub looked up at the big Namek and gave a determined nod.

Shisami's scouters had, in fact, registered Trunks and Goten upon their final transformations, but only amid a wildly frenetic jumble of other readings they were picking up. Shisami took this to mean they were either malfunctioning, or he was about to be attacked, and thus elected to discard his scouter and stay the course at a slightly slower pace, now vigilantly surveying the landscape. As it was, he was less than a mile from the Eastern forces, only the ridge of the cliff he was topping obscuring his vision.

Tagoma's scouters had also registered their power when they first reached their Super Saiyan forms, but rather than take his entire force off track, he had sent a lone scout to investigate the source. The scout flew for 15 minutes or so, and but never came close to his destination. Once he was firmly separated from his Company, a short bald man in an orange gi descended from the sky above him like a flash, dropped his elbow into the nape of the humanoid's neck, and killed him instantly. Satisfied that no other scouts had been sent, Krillin returned to his unit, and with no new intel to influence his judgment, Tagoma, too, continued on his path.

Shisami topped the ridge at the head of his Company, and looked down to see 30-some-odd men standing in a large V-shape before him, roughly 15 yards between each man. Stopping in the air, he threw up his right arm to signal "Halt" to his men, and they wordlessly braked behind him, never breaking file.

"So, they're going to take me on. Poor choice." He said, "And with a funnel formation? Sure, I'll play along, let's see what you've got, Earthlings. Men, on my order, charge through the core of the formation! Blow it to pieces!"

The horde outnumbered the Earthlings 100-1, and gave a might "RAH!" in response to their leader's orders.

Shen floated back 100 yards behind the formation and rose high into the air to gain a vantage point, as the Earth's defenders rose in unison into the air until they were parallel with Shisami's forces. Tien slid ahead of 17 into the heart of the formation, stood upright and still, and gritted his teeth, as did all the warriors around him.

"READY!" he screamed, and flexed as a clear aura burst around him, as did all the other fighters in his formation, 17 excepted. The horde's scouters went frantic again, and several of them burst at the sudden shock of power from the Earthlings.

Shisami dropped his arm to point directly at Tien, "Charge." He said cooly, and held his position in the air, as the massive flood of soldiers gathered speed toward the center of the funnel.

"Hold…" Tien said, coaching himself as much as his men.

The horde began to pick up steam, and was soon pressing their energy as hard as they could. Their clean lines began to splinter into a jumbled mob, but their direction remained set.

"HOLD…" Tien yelled again. The enemy was now well-within his range of fire, but he held back nonetheless as the enemy pressed down. He drew his hands into his chest and began to gather energy, as did the young warriors to either side of him.

"HOLD!" He screamed, sweat streaming down the side of his face as the head of the mob drew even with the edges of the formation. They did not engage, however, instead opting to attempt to blow the fulcrum away on their initial charge.

Tien waited until the first of the horde was within spitting distance, and looked into the whites of their eyes. He inhaled deeply, drew his hands into his chest, and pressed his fingers and thumbs together,

"NOW! _KI-KO-HO_!"

Tien screamed and let loose his pent-up energy in one massive concentrated wave. To each of his sides, the Wolf Students did the same, creating a massive 5-man Kikoho, decimating the front wave of the enemy like a cannon ball fired through a glass window. The first 50 rows of men were halted in their tracks and blown backward into their comrades, many of them lifeless. For those in the first 10 rows who had taken the brunt of the attack, there was little left but shreds of their armor.

Tien jumped backward behind 17 to clear himself as all the Earthlings not involved in the Kikoho wave thrust out their hands and let loose a wild barrage of Dodon Rays. 17, for his part, quickly caught onto the strategy and drew his hands into his stomach, forming a large, bright yellow ball of energy, which he then thrust forward with both hands into the heart of the chaos. Upon impact the ball exploded and let off a blinding light, and shrouded the middle of the funnel in smoke.

Shisami looked on angrily at the mess he had walked into. A full third of his force, over 1000 men, had been inside the funnel when the Earthlings sprung their trap. The back half had largely been able to escape after the shock of the initial blow, but now, out of his 500+ lead men, hardly any of them were standing, let alone fighting, and the Earth had nary a casualty to show for it. Shisami grabbed a scouter from a subordinate, pressed a button on the side, and threw it to the ground as he gave the signal for his remaining forces to circle back around to regroup.

The Earthlings did not give chase to his remaining men, however, instead opting to descend upon the remaining survivors inside their formation. Like the covers of a book closing on its pages, the two sides drew in on their prey as mirror images of one another. Now severely wounded and confused, Freeza's men stood little chance inside the trap. The weaker ones among them were cut down where they stood, and the stronger ones were forced deeper and deeper into the formation by the newly trained Earthlings and Tien, passed on to stronger and stronger foes, until even the strongest among them reached the Wolf Men and 17 at the base of the formation. There, exhausted by the struggle they had just endured, not a single one survived.

The Earthlings gave a mighty roar as they reset their formation. Several had been wounded, and all had given significant energy in the exchange, but they had taken a massive chunk out of their foe without giving a single casualty. Despite his chest heaving with every breath, even Tien couldn't help but crack a cautious smile.

The enemy coalesced again and gathered before Shisami, who looked down angrily at the Earthlings, crossed his arms, and began to think.

"Sire, Shisami's Company is calling for reinforcements! No word from Tagoma's Company. How many shall I send?" Sorbet asked Freeza frantically.

"So, the Earthlings are meeting with Shisami." Freeza replied, "Send them all, let's see what the Earthlings are capable of. I doubt seriously they'd attempt to divide their own defenses, even if they were aware of Tagoma's unit."

"Yes sire!" Sorbet yelled, and gave the signal for the remaining third of the unit to head southeast at top speed, to which they immediately obliged.

"Alright, they're on the move, heading east." Piccolo said as he shirked his turban and cape where he stood. "With or without those two, we're going in. I'm not hanging Tien out to dry because of their selfishness. Are you two ready?"

Both Uub and Gohan nodded forcefully, and the trio glided smoothly into the air, aiming for the midpoint between the eastern battlefront and the Armada.

Trunks and Goten fired off the ground at one another, threw their right elbows forward, and clashed together, their forearms slamming into one another in a stalemate as a flash of lightning shot out on impact. They felt the sudden pressure of the Kikoho coming from the east, but their Saiyan blood had now completely captivated their attention. In the heat of their battle, the strongest attack ever issued by humans had gone almost completely unnoticed.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Chaos

Tien was still breathing deeply when Popo's carpet flashed behind him with Popo and Dende aboard. Dende kneeled on the carpet and placed his hands in the middle of Tien's back, restoring energy to the three-eyed warrior as he went.

"You guys are the first to hit battle." Dende said, causing Tien to turn his head around quickly.

"What? Trunks and Goten are out fighting too, I can feel them from here."

"No…" Dende replied meekly, "They're…fighting each other. Freeza's reinforcements are on their way here, but Piccolo, Gohan, and Uub are going off to cut them off without them."

"Trunks…" Tien said, disgusted. "I don't have time for that. Thank you, please see to these four." he said as he gestured toward the Wolf students, "Hey, Shen! What'd you see?"

"Nothing you didn't see." Shen yelled back, having crept closer to the battlefield, "They tried to overwhelm us with blunt force, but I'll be surprised if they try that again. Be ready to adjust the formation."

Shisami was still deep in thought when one of the higher-ranking members of his force approached him, "Shall we wait for the reinforcements to arrive, General?"

"No," he replied, "they're hours away. The only reason I called them is because this group doesn't include the Saiyans, so I'm sure we'll hit them somewhere along our path. The only one here putting off any energy worth mentioning is that triclops in the back, and he's no threat to me. We'll get through this group shortly.

"Men! Triple Stack Formation! Go!" he yelled. Suddenly the force's rows began to shift in the air, going from a neat 10-row line to 3 separate lines hovering above one another. The new formation consisted of two 3-row lines sandwiched above and below a 4-row line in the middle.

"They'll have to choose which line to attack." Shisami announced to his men, "Whichever lines come clean out the other side, circle around and attack the formation from behind! We'll rip this thing to shreds before we move on to the city."

Shen and Tien fired to either side of the funnel formation, barking orders as they went. "3-Layer Stagger!" Shen was yelling, "You've been drilled on this! Move it!"

The men began adjusting, hovering higher and lower according to their assignments, creating two sides of the formation that were no longer mirrors, but opposites of one another. 17 looked on in bewilderment at the rapid shifting until Tien made his way back to him. "Just stay where you are." Tien said, "They'll bring them to you. But _don't move_. If you lose your position, everyone's backs are completely open."

"Hmmm…" Shisami said, "Not bad. But far too much distance between their men. They'll never hold us like this. Men! When you are engaged, fight to kill! We'll work our way through the middle this time. Now, charge!"

Shisami dropped his hand again, and the horde burst into another rush.

Piccolo, Uub, and Gohan touched down in a still valley and awaited the arrival of the reinforcement company, hiding behind a large cluster of bushes to launch their ambush.

"I can't believe them…" Gohan was stewing. "When we get out of this, I'm gonna…" Gohan was unable to finish his threat, but the message was communicated.

"It doesn't matter." Piccolo said, "It's the Saiyan in them, they can't help themselves; I've learned that much. Still, we shouldn't have a problem taking out this force without them if we don't waste energy. All we can do is hope they make it back before Freeza figures out what's going on."

No sooner had he spoken than the massive wave of troops, over 3000 strong, crossed into their vision.

"Uub, are you ready?" Piccolo asked.

Uub nodded his head and fidgeted nervously, and Piccolo noticed he was having trouble suppressing his power.

"Uub, calm down." Piccolo said, "You can handle this."

"I know." Uub said back, surprising Piccolo, who had expected the five-year-old to be a frightened wreck at first combat. "It's just…I can't stop shaking..." Uub seemed to be legitimately trying to control his body, but with the enemy now well within striking distance, it was as if he was fighting a primal instinct to throw himself into the fray of battle.

"Uub, settle down, they're not on top of us yet!" Gohan was barking in a hushed tone, as Uub visibly shook in his effort to restrain his body. The horde came closer and closer, but were still a good distance away when the leader's scouter went off.

"What?" The red alien said, "It's…it's huge! It must be the Saiyans! Men, retreat!"

"Let's go!" Piccolo yelled. He and Gohan burst into the air as the unit attempted to turn tail and run. Uub held a moment longer and then fired hard after them, a pink glow encompassing his body.

The trio closed the distance just as the horde was able to get completely turned around, and wasted no time launching into the massacre. Piccolo sought out the leader of the unit who had noticed Uub's energy, now at the back of the pack, and with a long slash from his right hand, severed the red man in two. From there, he continued his chase, cutting down each straggler with horrifying tenacity.

Gohan launched into the horde, blending among them as they fled, chopping and kicking as he passed them one by one with lethal precision, like a sheep dog through the flock. Many attempted to fight back, but none could avoid his strikes, nor could they survive them once they made impact. Soon, he had severed a line through the mob, and cut a large chunk of the men off from their comrades. Upon reaching the head of this group, he turned to face them, and thrust his hands forward, emitting a devastating blast that swallowed them whole.

Uub, wide eyed and panicked, flew up above the mob and began hurling blasts one after the other in a high-octane, if inefficient, attack, his body running purely on instinct and adrenaline. As if the attack were therapeutic, his aura faded, and his body calmed, but he kept up the onslaught, taking large, sporadic chunks out of the force as he went. Then, with a burst of speed, he launched down into the fray, springing to and fro among the combatants at blinding speed, slashing and striking randomly, with devastating power.

All through the onslaught, the enemy horde was fanning out in all directions, trying desperately to escape their attackers. None had the strength to defend themselves, nor the speed to get away, but thanks to their massive numbers, the Earthlings simply weren't able to confront them all at once. Slowly but surely, several hundred men were able to bleed away and off into the distance while their remaining allies slowed their attackers with their lives.

"Freeza, we're receiving multiple reports that the reinforcement troops have been attacked by the Saiyans! They're in a full retreat!" Sorbet shouted.

"What? Retreat?" Freeza barked, "I thought you said the Earthlings were confronting Shisami?!"

"They are, sire! It appears they are in multiple units, and Shisami has been attacked by a squadron of humans. Perhaps the Saiyans simply happened upon our reinforcements."

"Errr…" Freeza gritted his teeth as he stewed, "Signal those that escape back here, I'll handle the Saiyans myself if they can't!"

Goten and Trunks were raging at one another, but neither was able to gain an advantage. Time and time again, they clashed into one another, only to reach a stalemate, or fired blasts only to have them deflected or canceled out by a blast of equal force from their opponent.

10 minutes into the furious pace, they charged again, and, finally, Goten made a mistake. Anticipating a meeting in the air with his opponent, he overextended on a flying kick intended for Trunks's chest. Trunks phased high and reappeared right above the now prone Goten, grabbed his throat in his right hand, and dive-bombed toward the ground, slamming Goten into the Earth by his neck and creating a gigantic crater on impact.

Goten was rocked by the impact, but managed to curl his feet beneath Trunks and kick him away, and rose to his feet to face him again. Both were bloodied and breathing deeply, and both seemed to content to take a moment's pause.

"Face it…Goten…" Trunks said between gasps. "The gap's gone…I'm stronger than you now…Don't make me hurt you."

"One…lucky move…How'd you get so strong anyway?!"

"I spent last night in the Time Chamber." Trunks replied. "It only took a few hours out here, but in there, it was months. I didn't even have to finish the day we started against Buu."

"All that extra work, just so you could pass me, and we're still tied. What a waste."

"You're wrong; we're not tied, I'm stronger. And all that extra work was to kill Freeza. And to be ready when Buu comes out of that kid, and you and Piccolo and Gohan try to stop me from doing what has to be done."

"You're out of your mind. We're supposed to take on Freeza _together_! We're supposed to be helping Uub _together_! You don't get to judge who lives and dies, get over yourself! _Work_ _with us_!"

"I wish I could, but I'm done trying to reason with all of you. Now either get out of my way so I can get ready for my real fight, or let's finish this."

"Gah, you're so _arrogant_!" Goten yelled as his aura burst hard around him, "You're not better than me, Trunks! I'm gonna beat that into you, even if it kills both of us!"

"Kills us?" Trunks said, half shocked and half amused, "And you say I'm the one that's changed. Come on, then!" His aura fired around him as well, and the two fired off the ground at one another again.

Shisami's forces hit the eastern formation, but this time, didn't bypass the edges, instead opting to confront the Earthlings at every position, swarming around them like ants.

The Earthlings fought well, however. By keeping their space, even the weakest among them were able to fend off the dozens of soldiers they were confronted with, and worked diligently to force as many of their opponents as possible into the depth of the funnel. Though 17 and the interior fighters were holding up well, Tien was working at a breakneck pace to protect the weak exterior of the formation, where, as the battle drug on, cracks were beginning to show. No sooner would he finish clearing the swarm off one exhausted human than he would spot another, and bolt to alleviate him. Finally, he could take no more, and flew to meet Shen, despite the trouble his men were facing.

"Give me a senzu!" he yelled, and Shen handed one over as quickly as he could. Tien popped it into his mouth and turned to assess the formation, only to find himself horrified. In his absence, three human warriors, one sporting a Shinhan eye, had been backed into a group by a mob of enemy soldiers. They fought valiantly, firing and fighting as the mob closed in, and Tien bolted to meet them, but long before he reached his mark, the enemy overtook them, cut their throats, and sent their lifeless bodies to the hard ground below.

Tien's eyes lit up with rage as he charged the group. He came to a screeching halt some 15 yards away, and as the mob turned to charge him, threw his hands together as he issued a loud "KIKOHO" that engulfed the mob and rendered them lifeless. Tien doubled over in pain at the blast, but managed to shake it off and reentered the fray, determined not to allow his weakness to permit any more casualties.

Inside the formation, the Wolf Students hand their hands full, but were doing well. Nein and Naken had been assigned to the right side of the formation, and for all intents and purposes, were fighting as one cohesive unit, often switching places on the fly and coordinating attacks, repelling enemy after enemy with deadly efficiency. Hammur and Gorra, for their part, were not coordinating attacks, but had gone to fighting back-to-back, thereby cutting off the angles at which they could be attacked, and were rotating circularly, dispelling their opponents with overwhelming power all the while.

17 was especially busy, catching the bleed-off of every warrior his allies could throw his way, and was horrifyingly efficient at disposing of them. His seemingly limitless energy kept him fighting at a torrid pace, and his kills soon numbered in the hundreds. Still, he frequently left his post to momentarily pursue combatants, which allowed enemy troops to slip through and attack his allies from behind. Thus far, Shen had been able to halt these troops with precisely fired Dodon Rays, but their frequency was increasing with the growing workload 17 was being tasked with.

Shisami was in a rage. Despite vastly outnumbering an inferior opponent, his troops were being worked over, and their numbers were dwindling significantly. "Fine! I'll do it myself!" he roared, and launched into the fray of the battle.

Before he could reach the activity, however, he found himself face-to-face with Tien. "Feeling strong, human?" he asked.

Both fighters were able to sense the other's energy, and both knew Tien stood little chance in a dual. Still, Tien squared to the behemoth, and held his ground. "Not really." he responded. "But that's nothing new."

Shisami charged forward and Tien drew his arms into his chest again, and issued a loud "KIKOHO!" The blast hit Shisami squarely across the front of his body and blew him back some 50 yards before he was able to halt his momentum, the entire front of his body burned from the blast. Tien doubled over again, and this time was unable to regain control of his body. Before Shisami ever stopped his backward momentum, Tien was free-falling from the sky, clinging hard to consciousness.

Shen saw Tien go down and, with Dende keeping his distance while the battle was still raging, caught him and popped another senzu bean into his mouth. As Tien came to, Shen began to lecture him,

"You're abusing that technique, Tien. Even if you have learned to concentrate it, you can't overdo it like this. It takes too great a toll on your body."

"I don't have a lot of options!" Tien yelled in response, as he watched Shisami regain his balance and launch into the fray of battle, quickly slashing through one of the Earth's newly recruited warriors, killing him instantly. Tien fired into the sky behind Shisami and landed a hard roundhouse kick into the small of his back.

The kick did virtually no damage, but succeeded in moving Shisami into the middle of the formation. Before he could turn around, Tien fired another Kikoho into his backside, driving him forward directly in front of 17's zone. Tien doubled over again as the pain hit harder than ever before, but after it subsided, found himself able to continue.

Despite the irritation at Tien's incessant blasts, Shisami turned his full attention to 17. 17 quickly dispelled the remaining warriors he was responsible for and squared up to his new hulking, red opponent.

"So, you're the boss, huh?" 17 said, smiling confidently as the battle raged all around the pair.

"And you're the fulcrum. Strange, I haven't sensed a bit of energy from you."

"You won't. Until it hits you."

Tien moved to back up 17, but as he did, his path was cut off as both the mummy and vampire from Baba's Elite were pulled into the middle of the fray by their adversaries, each only moments away from succumbing to the force as their respective skirmishes meshed into a giant scrum. Tien gritted his teeth and dove into the fray to free them, leaving 17 to his own devices.

17 and Shisami locked eyes for another long second as the chaos swept around them, and then fired forward to meet one another. With Tien caught in the ruckus in the middle of the formation, and the Wolf fighters surrounded on all sides, only Shen was able to watch. To his horror, 17 blasted into the middle of the formation for the clash, completely abandoning his post. Shen yelled for him to return, but could not be heard above the roar of battle; the formation was open.

Piccolo finished off the last of the warriors he could see and finally landed, calling Uub and Gohan back as he did. Of the more than 3,300 soldiers they had originally encountered, over 2,800 now lay dead in the valley below them. Uub and Gohan were breathing heavily, but were untouched. Piccolo, however, was hurting for air, and was covered in fresh scrapes and bruises, but decided to forego a senzu bean, electing to wait for Dende to arrive instead.

"Why aren't we cleaning up the others?" Gohan asked.

"They're too close to Freeza now. If we give chase we'll likely end up meeting him head-on. I don't want to do that on his terms." Piccolo replied, to which Gohan nodded in agreement. "Uub, are you alright?"

Uub was sitting down, his body visibly shaking again. For the first time in his life, he had been faced with real combat, and it had drawn out an unfamiliar sensation. He was calm now, but his body was unsettled, shaken by a mixture of adrenaline and blood fever. Still, he had controlled himself, and had forgone the rampage his anatomy seemed to be willing him toward. He nodded his head to reassure Piccolo, and willed his body to stillness.

The remaining 500 or so members of the Reinforcement Company slowly trickled back to the mother ship, many of them covered in fresh wounds and all of them breathing heavily. Freeza slowly rose from his chair to address the crowd as they settled on the ground.

"I should kill you all for your cowardice right now." He said coldly, "Luckily for you, you may still have some use left. Sorbet, see to it these men are returned to fighting shape at once. If Shisami's worth keeping alive he won't need reinforcements to defeat mere Earthlings, anyway. As soon as these men are ready, they depart again, this time under my command."

"Yes, Sire!" Sorbet yelled, and went about distributing medical equipment to the men, in preparation for the coming offensive.

"You!" Freeza yelled, calling out a random soldier who seemed to be in good health, "What did you see? How many were there? Were they the Super Saiyans?"

"No, sire!" The man responded frantically, "There were three, the Namek, a young boy, and another man. None of them had the blonde hair we were warned about."

"I see…" Freeza said as he waved the man away, "That last one may be Goku's brat from Namek, but that still leaves two Saiyans unaccounted for. Sorbet, alert Tagoma that he may be confronted yet!"

"Yes, sire!" Sorbet responded, and quickly transmitted the message.

Tagoma received the message as he rounded a corner in the mountain pass through which he had been leading his men, when he suddenly called them to a halt. Before him stood over thirty Earthlings in a funnel formation with a woman at their fulcrum and two bald men at their back. Tagoma quickly evaluated them, and as his men came to a stop, he threw his head back, and laughed loudly.

"You guys get ready." Krillin said to the group around him, anxiousness dripping from his voice.

18, Roshi, Yamcha, Yajirobe, Chiaotzu, Videl, and Tao were all within earshot, and all nodded resolutely.

Tagoma stopped laughing long enough to give an order, yelling "Spread!" to his men. The horde's clean formation dissipated, as the men broke apart in every direction: some high, some low, some left, some right, and many scattered sporadically across the middle.

"Net Formation!" Roshi screamed to the funnel, prompting his troops to dissipate into what appeared to be a wildly sporadic formation of their own, with the troops at seemingly random heights and massive gaps of space between them. This, however, was a familiar position for the force, one they had rehearsed many times, and they showed no discomfort in their new arrangement.

Tagoma raised his arm, and then dropped it as he barked a "Charge!" order to his force. With a mighty yell from the horde, and an echo from the Earthlings, the Western front came under attack.

As Dende arrived and quickly healed Piccolo, Uub, and Gohan, Trunks and Goten continued their battle, increasingly aware of the world around them. Each grew more frantic by the moment as they sensed the war gaining momentum, while their opponent refused to cede ground in the skirmish, causing them to ratchet up their intensity with every strike. Krillin dug in his heels, Tien slashed through another pod of soldiers, and Freeza made final preparations for his entry into battle.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Narrowing Options

17 blasted forward and threw all his weight behind a punch intended for Shisami's forehead, but the bull-like man crossed his arms in front of his face, stalemating the two and sending a shockwave across the battlefield.

The battle around them had been ongoing for nearly half an hour now, and the warriors were showing their fatigue. Shisami's men, once over 3,000 strong, now numbered in the hundreds, and the ground beneath the airborne battle bore testament to their attrition. Still, the Earthlings had suffered harshly as well; once sporting over 30 men, the funnel had been whittled to only a dozen, the entirety of their casualties coming from the pool of new recruits.

Shen looked on in horror as 17 bolted from his position at the fulcrum of the formation, opening the avenue for the enemy to outflank the already severely outnumbered humans. He found Tien, but saw that he was tied up in battle, and worse, that he was beginning to wane. From his vantage point, Shen saw Tien clear a group of enemy combatants off of Baba's vampire, but when their attention turned to him, it was all-the three-eyed warrior could do to fight his way loose and create space for a counterstrike. Before he could reenter the battle, the horde had turned back on the vampire, and he dropped dead from the sky.

With few other options, Shen bolted from his vantage point to the vacant fulcrum position and began fighting as best he could. At first, he held up well, but he was no replacement for 17, and soon he found what stamina he had depleted, and it was all he could do to survive as men began to pass him. He did, however, manage to clear the fighters most eminently dangerous, and looked ahead into the formation.

Tien was still tied in a massive scrum of enemy soldiers, dispelling of them as quickly as they came, but clearly taking on all he could handle. To each side, the Wolf Students were still fighting well, but they, too, had their hands completely full. Up ahead, 17 was enthralled in the vicious onslaught he was unloading on Shisami, each blow he threw being deftly blocked or dodged. At this rate, he thought, it was only a matter of time until their limited resources gave out and they were overrun.

17 was struggling mightily with Shisami. He had been able to work over the large fighter, but for all his effort, couldn't land a significant blow. 17 grunted and threw another haymaker, but Shisami slipped the blow and delivered a devastating two-handed clubbing to the back of his head, sending him careening into the side of the cliff the horde had topped on their way to the battle.

17 pulled himself out of the hole momentarily, but grimaced in pain as he willed himself back into the battle. No sooner did he arrive, however, then Shisami landed a devastating knee to his gut, and then dropped an elbow into the back of his neck, sending him careening toward the ground again. This time, 17 struggled to get up.

Shen watched the entire skirmish as best he could between attackers and began to panic. "We need help, we can't hold out much longer!" Shen screamed to his right, and then again to his left.

"Kinda busy right now!" Hammur yelled back, as he bent over backward to avoid a ray gun blast intended for his head, and then threw a blast baseball-style back at it's shooter, dropping him in one smooth motion.

"Break loose! I'll hold your positions!" Shen replied.

"Are you crazy?!" Nein yelled, never looking away from the ten men who had him in a backward glide, as he blocked and countered all the way, "We're barely holding on ourselves!" As he spoke, one enemy combatant slipped overhead and escaped his gaze, and was coming down to land a blow to his head when Gorra fired a Dodon Ray from the opposite side of the formation, killing the soldier before he could make contact.

"I can't hold out in this position anyway! Just do it!" Shen yelled, to which the four, with deference to their commander drilled into their nature, all released bursts of energy around their body, sending their enemies sprawling in every direction. They flew behind the formation roughly 100 yards and landed atop two adjacent rock formations; Nein and Naken on one, Hammur and Gorra on the other. Shen gave ground as well, and positioned himself between the four young warriors and the gaping hole in the funnel formation.

Freed from their prey, Freeza's men quickly gathered themselves and began to pursue their targets again, before the warriors even had a chance to align themselves with one another. Shen squared to the oncoming mob, and as they closed in, took a deep, calming breath, and drew his hands into his chest.

Looking on at Tagoma's force roaring across the plain, Krillin floated up between 18 and Yajirobe, while Roshi found the opposite open space between 18 and Yamcha.

"Load up!" Krillin yelled, and the entirety of their force drew their hands to their hands to their right hips. Only Roshi and Tao hesitated, Roshi taking the time to flex and flood his muscles with energy, ballooning his body massively out of proportion, and Tao to charge the mechanical cannon attached to his arm.

"Ready!" Krillin yelled again, the enemy now entering striking distance for the weakest warriors in the unit.

"KA-ME" the force echoed in unison. The scouters of the soldiers closest to the formation registered the growing energy, but without orders to adjust, kept up their charge.

"HA-ME" the Earthlings echoed again. Now, Tagoma, too, registered the energy, and shouted orders to redirect his force, but was far too late. His men were well out of earshot, and were seconds away from firing distance for their ray guns. His forced pressed on like an ocean wave, into the teeth of the Earthlings' trap.

"HAAAAAA!" The humans yelled as they thrust their hands forward. Over 30 blasts burst forth with a ferocious roar, and pressed against each other into one mighty beam, rocketing through the center of the enemy's mass.

Only the enemy's spread formation saved them from utter annihilation. Even as they were, the massive blast engulfed hundreds of soldiers, and blew out the back of their formation, threatening to engulf their general as well. Tagoma saw the attack coming and flew high into the air to avoid it, and gritted his teeth angrily, shocked at the unforeseen display of power.

Unlike Shisami, however, Tagoma did not pull his men back to regroup. Instead, he signaled for both sides of his now divided force to press on to the perimeters of the Earth's defense, and once the blast had cleared, began cautiously advancing down the middle of the formation himself.

Unlike his Eastern counterpart, Krillin still had energy following his initial volley, and bolted to the left side of the formation next to Upa and many of the other new recruits. Tagoma's spread formation had bought the Earthlings some extra time, but they were now mere moments away from making impact with Freeza's force. "Clear the runway!" he yelled, and the Earthlings between him and the force parted to either side, leaving a clear lane between Krillin and the oncoming horde.

Krillin raised his right arm above his head and began to circulate it, as if preparing to throw a lasso: once, and a ring of energy formed; twice, and the ring filled in, forming a solid disc; three times, and the disc began to rotate violently, emitting a soft hum and jolting with energy as if it had a serrated edge.

On his fourth revolution, Krillin brought his arm down hard across his body and yelled, "Kienzan!" the disc cut out violently, momentarily dipping low off course before correcting back to it's intended path, and, before they could decide how to react, slicing through the oncoming formation like a buzz saw, dropping dozens of men along it's path before it finally hitting a distant mountain and exploding.

There was no more time for premeditated firing, however. No sooner had the Earthling's reestablished their positions than they were under siege, still outnumbered nearly 75-to-1, though at any given time, many of their enemies would be too crowded or damaged to be actively fighting.

As was the case in the east, however, the Earthlings found that, to a man, they vastly outmatched Freeza's soldiers, both in terms of power and motivation. Each of the Earthlings were now trained warriors, drilled for months for this exact moment, and fighting both for their lives and for the future of their world. In sharp contrast, Freeza's army was almost exclusively composed of men forced into service following the domination of their home planets, and their only desire was to survive the battle and, someday, return home. Had they thought it possible, many would've preferred to desert upon the first sign of resistance and allow the Earthlings to defeat the tyrant without their resistance.

Still, Freeza's men were battle savvy and obedient, and had vast numbers on their side. With the initial shock of the battle over, they were settling into familiar combat, and the Earthlings were beginning to struggle.

The Earthlings fought to a stalemate for the first 15 minutes of combat, taking only minor casualties. It was here, however, that inexperience first reared it's head, and Videl made a crucial mistake.

With Krillin too preoccupied on the other side of the formation to provide support, Videl and Tao had been surrounded by a massive circle of enemies, and were hovering back-to-back fighting them off several at a time, causing many of the others to hesitate to jump in themselves. They repeatedly fired weak blasts from their ray guns, but both Videl and Tao dodged and deflected these with ease.

Amid the onslaught of hesitant attacks and beams, a particularly bold soldier made a swiping attempt at Videl, which she dodged, and then attempted to continue on to the other side of the ring, thereby avoiding a counterpunch. Rather than holding her position, however, Videl bolted after the soldier, opening up both Tao and her own back in the process. Tao saw the move from the corner of his eye and, reacting without thinking, gave chase to cover her from behind, but opening himself up even more.

Videl caught the soldier and delivered a slam to the back of his head, sending him lifeless to the ground, but only now did she realize her mistake. A mob of soldiers were now dropping out of the sky onto her, already too close for her to turn and face them. Just before they made contact, Tao's cannon detonated, releasing a loud crack as the pink beam fired out and shot the mass of soldiers out of the sky.

Now, however, it was Tao's back that was exposed with enemies closing in, this time too close for him to even turn his head to see them. Videl shot a quick blast high above his head to take out two that had taken a high route, but for the 5 directly behind Tao, there was nothing she could do. Already resigned to his death, Tao turned to see the faces of the men that would deliver his demise.

What he saw instead was an energy-infused spear roar inches past his face, grazing his mustache in the process. The spear continued past him and just past Videl's ear, finally coming to a stop in the sternum of a soldier on the opposite side of the ring. When Tao finally turned, he saw all 5 of the combatants that he had sensed coming with linear holes in their torsos. Behind them, he saw Upa, now unarmed, staring stone-faced back at him, and then watched him turn his attention back to his own battle. Upa's spear had traveled over 50 yards in the air, hit it's mark with deadly precision, and saved the life of the man who killed his father.

In the interior of the formation, the Earthlings were holding up well. Yajirobe and Chiaotzu were more than capable of holding off massive numbers of enemies at once, but with the distance between them and their allies, as a result of their netted funnel formation, they were of little use to others. 18, for her part, was holding up well, but despite her lack of fatigue, the stress of the central position was giving her all she could keep up with as well. Yamcha, however, was excelling, his massive strength relative to his position allowing him to easily disperse of every foe that came his way, and even creating enough space to momentarily aide some of his nearest allies.

For his part, Krillin was growing wearier by the moment. The strain of flying back and forth across the formation to bail out the new recruits was wearing on him, as were the numerous blasts he was being forced to emit to make last-second saves. Finally, seeing a longhaired ally in a desperate backpedal as a gaggle of enemies drove him into the middle of the formation, Krillin fired a two-handed yellow beam directly at the man's back from across the formation.

Just as the beam was about to make contact with his ally, Krillin jolted his arms, and the beam dissipated into 25 individual rays, each one curving off course and surrounding the man's body, reappearing in front of him, and striking down the enemies before they could reach their target. The man quickly waved to thank Krillin before diving back in, but Krillin was exhausted.

Abandoning the others, he quickly flew back to Roshi and retrieved a senzu bean, as well as extras to disperse among the other fighters. Here, over the roar of the battle, Roshi began relaying instructions.

"We're thinning 'em out, but we're too far apart, we need to tighten the formation back up!" the Turtle Hermit yelled, "And hurry! Their general's getting antsy; I'm afraid he's going to enter the battle himself!"

"Right! I'm on it!" Krillin yelled, and thrust himself back into the throes of the war.

Freeza stepped out of the ship and walked down the ramp purposefully, facing the direction from which his Reinforcement Company had fled. He was still in his first form, but he was no longer resting; he had released his scales, making him slightly taller, and the cocky, self-satisfied expression he had worn since sending his men out to battle had been replaced with an irritated scowl.

"Alright! On my mark!" Sorbet shouted to the troops as he trailed behind Freeza, the two rising into the air. Soon, the roughly 500 men who had survived the earlier attack were in 10 neat lines, bound for their previous battlefield.

Piccolo felt them take off and perked his head up. "They're coming back…" he said, as he closed his eyes to focus more intently. "And Freeza's with them."

"So what's the plan?" Gohan asked.

Piccolo thought for a long moment before responding. "We can't afford to take on Freeza with anything but our best shot." He said calmly, "Gohan, go get Goten and Trunks. We'll stay here and hold them off."

"What? No way! I'm not leaving you guys out here!" Gohan replied anxiously, "Let's just fall back and attack later! Or you or Uub go get them, and I'll hold them off!"

"If we don't engage them now they'll run right into Tien's battlefield; we can't afford that." Piccolo replied, still very calmly, "And if Uub or I were to jump into that fight, we're just as likely to make it worse and get hurt ourselves. You're the only one that can break them apart. Besides, you're our best chance to take Freeza out, if we have to choose, I'd rather you have those two helping you then us.

"Just hurry, Gohan." He continued, "We'll be fine. I don't care what you have to do, but get them back here as fast as you can; we'll need the help. Here, take these." Piccolo plucked two senzu beans out of the bag and placed them in his waistband, and handed the bag with the remaining three to Gohan.

Gohan nodded resolutely and said, "Right. I'll see you soon." and turned to leave.

"Gohan." Piccolo said, causing him to turn his head before taking off, "This war is just starting to get ugly. Whatever happens, just know I believe in you. Just like I always have."

Gohan nodded one more time, and exploded into the air, full steam ahead to Goten and Trunks's battleground.

Shisami landed softly a few feet next to 17, who had managed to struggle up to one knee on the hard ground below. "Let's see, who could you be?" Shisami began to taunt as he approached the cyborg. "You're no Namekian, that's for sure." Here he backhanded 17 across the jaw, sending him tumbling a few yards, and kept walking after him.

"You look like a human, but you don't put off energy like they do. And besides, you're much to strong to be one of those pathetic weaklings." 17 had managed to crawl to his elbows, but Shisami kicked him in the stomach, forcing him to roll onto his back in pain.

"Perhaps you're the Super Saiyan who's hair never changes." Shisami continued, "But that would make you this planet's greatest warrior, and that would be rather embarrassing for the Earth, wouldn't it?"

17 was now bloodied and crippled, but seeing Shisami's overconfidence create an opening, managed to throw his right arm up and fire a quick shot of energy into his face. Sure enough, Shisami was slow to react, and the blow caught him squarely in his left eye, burning it badly, and causing him to scream in pain.

"Now you're dead!" Shisami said, and thrust his arm forward to deliver the kill-shot, when he suddenly felt a wave of energy appear in the battle above him, and turned his head to see what was happening.

"KIKOHO!" Shen screamed, thrusting every bit of power in his body into a blast directed at the approximately 100 enemy soldiers that were crashing down on him.

"Shen, no!" Tien screamed from across the battlefield, but was far too late. Having seen the futility in continuing the battle as it was, Shen had made the call to pull the Wolf Students out of the formation. Furthermore, he had reasoned, he stood no chance of buying them enough time by fighting traditionally, and any course of action he took short of turning tail and running stood to end in his demise. Without Tien or 17 able to reach him in time, and unable to regulate the Kikoho as Tien and the younger fighters could, Shen was left only one option.

Shen gathered all the energy in his body and, in one mighty wave, released it at the oncoming mass of warriors, engulfing them with a power many times greater than his frail body could otherwise have generated. The blast killed the first dozen men it hit, maimed another 20, and blew the remaining fighters backward into the middle of the formation, if not out of the sky altogether. Shen took three heaving breaths and fell out of the sky, lifeless before he could hit the ground.

Tien finally broke free of his battle and burst over to Shen, catching him in his arms. Upon his arrival, his former Master was already dead. Tien's hand shook as he removed the senzu beans from Shen's belt, and laid him atop a nearby rock formation. From there he wasted no more time, and burst to the location Shen had just fired from, assuming the same position.

"Fuuu-sion! HA!" he heard the four yell behind him, and soon their powers merged into two much larger ones. By now, the enemy had recovered from the blast, and others were beginning to break free and attack the now vacant bottom of the funnel.

"How long do you need?!" Tien yelled over his shoulder.

"About half a minute!" Gammur yelled back. "We need time for these bodies to stabilize before we can fuse again!"

"That's gonna be tough..." Tien said to himself as he quickly popped another senzu bean into his mouth, and ripped what remained of his tattered shirt from his chest. The enemy was now pouring in from every direction, and the new recruits were giving out quickly, many of them dying without Tien's support to save them. Tien drew his hands into his chest and prepared to use a full Shin Kikoho for the first time since he confronted Cell. Back then, he had been younger, stronger, and his body more durable, and he had still ended up at death's doorstep, but like Shen only moments before, he was out of options.

"KIKOHO!" he yelled, taking out a chunk of soldiers over to his left that had made significant forward progress.

Suddenly, Dende and Popo phased in directly behind him, putting themselves in harms way for the first time. Dende placed his hands squarely between Tien's shoulder blades as Popo stood to deflect any ray gun shots that might be fired.

"I'll keep healing you, just keep shooting!" Dende yelled, and Tien felt a bit of his energy coming back to him.

"HA! HA! HA!" he yelled with every shot, wiping out swaths of enemy soldiers with each blast. Had they been in concentrated groups as they were when they first attacked, he likely would've wiped them out in a few blasts. As it was, they were spreading as they advanced in an effort to avoid his attacks. Despite Dende's best efforts, Tien was losing energy faster than he could replace it, and Tien's vision began to tunnel down significantly until he feared he might pass out. He let out one more blast, taking out 15 enemy soldiers baring down on him from straight ahead, when he finally heard the sound he'd been waiting for.

"Fuuu-sion! HA!"

With that, Tien stopped firing and lowered himself slowly to the ground where he took a knee, his body shaking uncontrollably, sweat pouring from every pore, and his veins straining as if they might tear through his skin at any moment. Dende kept his hands on Tien all the while, and slowly but surely, his strength began to return to him.

As Dende was working, Tien looked up to the top of the rock formation he had been defending and saw Okami, staring stoically at the remnants of Shisami's company, who had all stopped dead in their tracks. There numbers were now no more than 100, and the few that still had undamaged scouters had them explode on their faces upon Okami's creation.

Okami grunted hard and flexed his muscles, summoning forth his full power, as his clear aura blew his long hair like massive fan. He threw one hand forward and released a heavy blast that tore through two dozen enemy soldiers and continued on far into the distance. At this, the remnants of Shisami's company fled in every direction, defecting to whatever shelter they could find. Okami did not give chase, but shifted his gaze to the ground, locking eyes with Shisami.

"Well, now." Shisami said, lowering his arm away from 17's broken body. "This may be interesting, yet."

Tien regained his strength and flew up to stand next to Okami. "Buy me enough time to get 17 a senzu bean, and then the three of us will attack him together." He said.

"No." Okami responded, never breaking his downward stare at Shisami. "17 will just get in my way, and you're not strong enough to help without killing yourself. I'll fight him alone."

"I'm still alive, I'm not stepping out of this fight yet!" Tien barked.

"Tien..." Dende said shyly, "If you can still fight, Krillin's group could really use some help. His troops are starting to wear out, just like yours did."

Tien was quiet, but Okami spoke up quickly. "Go help them, Master Tien, they need you more than me. I'll be fine." With that, Okami wasted no more of his limited time. He took a senzu bean from Tien and descended to Earth to face off with Shisami.

"We can shuttle you over there if you want." Dende offered, but Tien shook his head.

"No, your time's too important. Stay here and save everyone you can. I'm sure I'll make it there in time to help if I'm needed. Thank you for all your help."

With that, Tien flew due west to serve as a one-man reinforcement unit, and Dende set about trying to salvage Earthling lives from the mass of corpses along the ground, as the final battle on the Eastern Front prepared to begin.

Piccolo and Uub stood silently atop a small hill overlooking the valley, facing the way they knew Freeza would arrive. Stoic as ever, Piccolo never looked down at Uub, but spoke up to say, "Just so we're clear, I believe in you, too. Every bit as much as I do him."

Uub looked up, shaken that Piccolo would break his hard exterior, and unable to help himself, hugged Piccolo's giant leg and buried his face in the side of his pants.

"Hey! Get off me!" Piccolo yelled, "We're still in a war here, this is no time for that!"

Uub jumped back and drooped his head sadly, until he felt Piccolo rub the top of his head reassuringly. "Just get ready, kid. I'll be right here with you."

With that, the two returned to their distant stare, and a moment later, saw the enemy horde appear on the horizon, the short Acrosian tyrant at their head.

Trunks and Goten were each beaten badly, but fired at each other again, each throwing telegraphed right hands that caught the other in the jaw, turning their heads as they went, but never breaking their stare. Upon landing, their wounds set in harshly: Goten significantly favored his right leg, his right ear rang loudly, and he was unable to lift his left arm past his shoulder. Trunks, for his part, had his left eye swollen almost completely shut, a badly broken rib, and a wide stream of blood running from his nose down to his mouth, and then continuing over his chin onto his chest. All in all, Trunks was in marginally better shape, but it would have been difficult to discern. Both had taken a a severe beating, and both had refused to give ground to the other.

The two stood panting across from one another for a long moment, both having long since abandoned their Super Saiyan 2 transformations for their more practical first forms. The battle had paused many times when the two felt especially large waves of energy coming from one of the battlefields, but whenever one thought of calling a truce to offer aide to their comrades, the other would attack again, either physically or verbally, and the battle would continue.

Finally nearing exhaustion, Trunks spoke up between heavy breaths, "Goten…why are we doing this? I never...wanted...to fight you."

Goten was gasping as well, and fighting through a sharp pain in his side whenever he inhaled, but replied "Because…when today's over…either I'll be dead…or the Earth'll be safe. And that means...only one of us...is leaving here."

The two stood upright again and launched into the air, each drawing back their right arms to deliver energy-packed knockout blows. 4 feet from each other, they threw their punches, and an orange streak blew between them, grabbed each of them each by their extended wrist, spun them 180 degrees into the other's previous position, and flung them into the side of a gigantic boulder. Goten and Trunks landed side-by-side amid the broken rock piles their bodies had created, their eyes closed and their teeth clenched to suppress screams as their broken bodies absorbed the punishment. Finally, they opened their eyes and looked up to see Gohan, his dark hair fully erect, staring coldly down at them.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Desperate Adjustments

Gohan's icy stare bore down on Goten and Trunks, but they stared back just as cruelly as they drug themselves out of the rubble, their broken bodies leaving formfitting crevices where they had impacted the boulder.

"Why?" Gohan asked, offering no more nuance.

"Because he's not one of us anymore." Goten replied.

"What, Trunks? You'll fight Goten but not Freeza?" Gohan asked.

"I came here to fight Freeza, Goten attacked me." Trunks said, as he rose to his feet. "If you think I planned on doing anything other than killing Freeza today, you're even stupider than I thought."

Goten lurched at Trunks again following the last insult, but Gohan jumped into his path and blocked his way, diffusing the assault.

"Freeza is going to hit Piccolo and Uub any minute." Gohan said flatly, "I've got two senzu beans with me. If we leave right now, we _might_ get there before they're dead. If you two feel like being the heroes the Earth needs you to be instead of petulant children, I'll give you these beans, and we can go. I'll never say anything else to you about this."

"I wasn't gonna fight with you before, and I'm sure not going to now." Trunks said, staring a hole through Goten as he spoke. "Go on ahead if you want, I'll be here to clean up the mess when you're through."

"See what I mean?" Goten protested, "I wanna help Piccolo and Uub, but if we don't finish him now, there's no telling what he'll do! I thought I could make him change sides, but that Trunks is gone. I'm not leaving until this one's crippled or dead!"

"So I should just give you a senzu bean and go on back, huh Goten?" Gohan asked, testing his brother. "Or should I stay and help you finish him off, and then we can go fight together once he's dead?" Unsure whether Gohan was being serious, Trunks anchored into a defensive stance, fully aware of its futility.

"You go on ahead." Goten replied, "But I don't need a senzu. I can take him right now."

"Oh yeah?" Gohan asked, and then delivered a swift punch directly into Goten's stomach. Goten's eyes widened and his mouth flew open as his hair drooped and darkened, and he fell to his hands and knees in pain, the wind completely gone out of his body.

Seeing his opportunity, Trunks launched forward at Goten, but didn't make it halfway there before Gohan had dropped low and delivered a hard elbow into Trunks's gut, with identical results. Gohan looked down at the two young warriors gasping for air, and gritted his teeth.

"You two still don't get it!" Gohan yelled, "Our whole world is in danger! Everyone you know and love is counting on you! Your fathers are both dead because they gave everything they had to defend this world! I don't care about your stupid feuds or your conspiracy theories or your grudges that you're too young to know anything about! Get it together, or I'll break your backs and leave you here until the war's over, and then let all the people who were depending on you decide what to do with you!"

Both Goten and Trunks were shocked at Gohan's threat, but kept silent. When they found the strength to raise their heads, they stared harshly back into each other's eyes and breathed heavily, waiting for the other to make a move.

Krillin was rushing up and down each side of the formation, breaking his soldiers free and shepherding them into tighter clusters, trying to establish a cohesive structure as quickly as possible without opening holes along the way. Roshi had moved in close to the formation as well, and was shouting orders as best he could over the roar of the battle, but was keeping a watchful eye on Tagoma all the while.

Tagoma had been creeping further and further into the funnel, maintaining his position in the middle, away from the Earth's soldiers, as he shouted directions to his troops. To this point, he had been content to give orders, only fighting enough to keep the scrums of soldiers off of him, but he was growing impatient. His troops weren't decimated, and the Earth's were beginning to wear thin, but he was clearly losing the battle to this point, and intended to do something to change it's course sooner rather than later.

When Krillin felt the formation had been tightened as best it could be, he turned his attention to Tagoma as well. By now, Tagoma had gone all the way to Chiaotzu, Videl, and Tao's depth, and was growing more agitated by the second. 18 noticed him as well, now clearly within striking distance, but her training took hold and she held her position, refusing to open the bottom of the formation.

Krillin shot to the left side of the formation and fired a weak blast directly up into the air, a prearranged signal with Yamcha to clear space in the middle. He dropped back level and drew his hands to his hip, and looked over to see not only Yamcha, but Roshi as well, back in his gargantuan muscular form, mimicking his motion from behind the formation.

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

All three members of the Turtle School fired at once, and the three separated beams met in the middle, hitting an unsuspecting Tagoma head-on and driving him back as they applied more energy to the attack. When he was pushed out the back of the formation, they stopped their attack, and Yamcha went back to fighting as Roshi and Krillin waited to see how their target would respond.

Tagoma was furious, both with the Earthlings and himself. Had he been paying attention, he could've easily blocked the blast, or at the very least dodged it. The blast had done only peripheral damage; some mild burn marks across his face, a slight chip in his armor, scuff marks across his arms and legs, but nothing that had caused any significant pain. Still, to him, it was an insult to be blindly attacked when he himself, a General, no less, was not even involved in the battle.

"Cowards!" He yelled in the general direction of Roshi, where he assumed the blast had originated, "You'll pay for that!"

Tagoma flew high into the air and picked out a rather substantial cluster of soldiers, comprised of some of Upa's tribesmen and many of his own soldiers. From his high vantage point, he lowered his arm, grinned widely, and fired a massive blast directly into the scrum, killing everyone it hit immediately.

Krillin and Roshi were in shock. Tagoma entering the battle had been predictable, but for him to attack his own men in order to take out a few Earthlings was shocking. Krillin, fearing Tagoma might simply try to take out the entire battlefield in this manner, abandoned his duty of reinforcing the formation and rose to confront him face to face.

"Oh please, little man." Tagoma taunted, still grinning widely, "I've been watching you fight, you don't have a chance here. And I saw your special trick, too, so don't waste your time trying to hit me with that disc."

Krillin held his ground quietly, content to let Tagoma taunt him so long as it kept him away from the battle. This was short-lived, though, as Tagoma blasted forward and drew his arm across his body, preparing to cut Krillin in half.

"Solar Flare!" Krillin yelled, as he threw his hands to his face, emitting a sudden blinding light over the overcast battlefield. Tagoma was caught completely off guard, and drew his arms in to his face to conceal his blinded eyes.

Krillin wasted no time, launching into a viscous assault of punches and kicks directly into Tagoma's front. He was able to make solid contact again and again, and even forced his target to wince once or twice, but was unable to deal any real damage. Sensing his time running low, Krillin kicked Tagoma away with both feet to create space, and raised his hand over his head to form another disc.

"Kienzan!" he yelled, and threw his arm forward again, sending the attack on a collision course for Tagoma's midsection. "Come on…"

"He's got him!" Roshi couldn't help but yell as he looked on from behind the formation.

The disc buzzed in at a roaring speed, drawing within inches of Tagoma's core. At the last second, Tagoma spun violently to his left, slipping the disc by a fraction of an inch. The attack sped off harmlessly into the distance, and Tagoma cracked open his eyes and smiled at Krillin again.

"I thought I told you not to try that." Tagoma said.

Tagoma launched forward again, raising his hands together high over his head and slamming them down on Krillin. The move was heavily telegraphed, but thanks to Tagoma's speed, it was all Krillin could do to get his hands over his head to block it.

Krillin's block likely saved his life, but the force of the blow sent him crashing out of control down to the battle below, where he was caught by 18.

"Want me to help you?" she asked, as he regained control of his body.

"No, we can't give up your spot. Just hang on, I'll hold him off 'til we win down here, then we can all fight him together."

"Krillin, you can't take him alone! You need help!" Roshi was yelling from behind him. "Yamcha, get ready to go with him!"

Yamcha fired off a roundhouse kick that dropped four soldiers, then stopped to nod at Roshi as the old man handed two senzu beans to Krillin, and then fired away to the opposite side of the formation, where he fought his way into Videl and Tao.

"You'll have to hold this spot alone, Videl!" he yelled, "Tao, let's go!"

The two old men burst back to Yamcha's side of the formation, and Roshi stepped in as Yamcha flew high in the air, joining Krillin above the battle. Tao continued on to Chiaotzu's position and butted in to his battle.

"You're relieving Yamcha, bump down!" Tao yelled as he took over Chiaotzu's cluster of soldiers. Chiaotzu obliged, and left to relieve Roshi, who was already growing weary from the stress the high-octane battle. Roshi exited back behind the formation, took a moment to catch his breath, and set about aiding the new recruits, effectively filling the role Krillin had occupied up to this point.

Up in the air, Krillin handed Yamcha a senzu bean, and the two ate them quickly as Tagoma looked on amusedly. "Oh, you've brought a friend this time? And not even your fulcrum? Well hurry up, I'm getting bored." He said sarcastically.

Krillin and Yamcha stayed close together as they floated up to confront the fiend, both looking hard for any weakness they might find, when Yamcha began to speak quietly:

"Look, we can't beat him in a fair fight, but if we just stay alive for a while, the others can join in and we might wear him down. I'll try to open him up, fire your Kienzan first chance you get. Alright?"

"Sounds as good as anything I'm gonna come up with." Krillin responded, and the two drifted apart, placing themselves on opposite sides of Tagoma's body. Tagoma looked to either side surveying his competition, flexed hard to raise his power to it's peak, and smiled before finally speaking again:

"Well, I'm waiting."

Piccolo and Uub didn't move from their perch in the open as Freeza drew in on them, hoping that their brashness would give Freeza pause and buy them some extra time. Freeza identified Piccolo from a ways out, but continued onward until the two groups were in speaking distance before calling his men to a halt.

"Well, well, the Namek from Namek, imagine that. Congratulations on your survival." The Acrosian began, smiling wryly.

"I don't die easily." Piccolo replied, straining to get a sense of Freeza's strength. "But I'm not the same Namekian you remember. You'd be wise to turn around and leave."

"But you do die." Freeza said, chuckling lightly, "Well, Namek, as tempting as that may be, I do have a reputation to uphold, so I'm afraid I'll be inclined to stay. I will say, though, I've become fairly adept at sensing energy, and you are quite impressive. Why, just today, I lacked a serviceable leader for this miserable Reinforcement Company and look how they turned out. You could be of quite some use in my army…"

"No thanks." Piccolo responded, still calm, but clearly irked at the offer, "This is the second time you've tried to destroy my home planet; I don't think I see myself working for you."

"Well, suit yourself. But please do remember how that first planet turned out." As Freeza chuckled at his own joke, he suddenly noticed Uub, whose power was again bubbling sporadically beneath the service. "And besides," Freeza continued, now clearly intrigued, "You're nothing compared to that boy you've got there. Oh, and he's so young, he hasn't been jaded by age at all! I'll tell you what, Namek: hand over that boy to me before I have to kill him, and after I've won this war and you've all bent the knee to me, I'll let you stay here and rule this planet as my proxy. Just think, you'd never have to leave this pitiful excuse for a planet, and in my absence you'd be a king!

"And you, boy." Freeza continued, "Under my lead, you could be quite something. I haven't had a true Special Forces unit since my first life; I could build something special around you. What do you say? Come with me and you'll see the universe over! And whatever you desire will be yours: fame, power, wealth, women…well, you may be a bit young for that one, but I'm told that comes in time for humans…"

"That's enough." Piccolo said, stepping forward between Uub and the dictator. "The boy stays here, and if you don't leave now, so will your body." Piccolo bared his fangs at the tyrant, clearly communicating the message that he was done with the banter. "If you're set on a fight, then let's go, just you and me."

"Very well, then, Namek. If it's a duel you want, then you shall have it. Men! I'll take care of the green one here on my own; I leave the boy to all of you. Try to cripple him, if possible, I really would like to take him as a souvenir."

The men looked nervously at one another, all well aware of the danger Uub posed. Still, they much preferred their odds in that battle to living lives as deserters on a planet soon to be the headquarters of Freeza's empire, so they stepped forward and prepared themselves for battle.

"Just stay alive, Uub." Piccolo said under his breath, "We just need to buy time. I'll hold Freeza off as long as I can."

Uub nodded nervously, and Piccolo floated up into the open space between Uub and Freeza's force, squaring off with the short tyrant as his army descended to the ground to square off with Uub.

"Go ahead and transform if you want to." Piccolo said.

"We'll get to that, Namek." Freeza responded, "Frankly, I'm not convinced I need to."

With that, Piccolo drew his elbows down to his hips and yelled lowly and loudly, power surging around him with viscous force as his antennae flopped wildly upward. Freeza's smile faded as he registered the heightened power, but only gave a blank stare as it leveled off. Piccolo blasted forward and threw a massive punch at Freeza's throat, which Freeza caught in his hand and clenched, trapping Piccolo's fist.

Freeza smiled, but only for a moment, as Piccolo threw a hard upward kick into Freeza's jaw, snapping his head back and causing him to release his grip. As Piccolo backed off and dropped into his stance, Freeza brought his head back down, locked eyes with the Super Namekian, and popped his neck to loosen it, as a fresh bruise formed on his chin.

"Enjoy it, Namek." He finally said, "That's the last blow you'll ever land."

The day was now well into the afternoon, and the storm that had been threating all morning was beginning to blow in. The temperature was beginning to drop significantly, the sky remained cloudy and dim, and occasional lighting bolts were visible off in the distance from both the central and eastern battlefields.

On the Eastern Front, Okami stood momentarily across from his opponent, as the two measured each other up. Shisami was the more imposing figure, but only slightly, as Okami, thanks to the growth his components had undergone since the tournament, now stood nearly 7 feet tall, himself.

Okami wasted no more of his precious time, and fired forward aggressively at Shisami, his right hand drawn back for contact. As with 17 before him, Shisami was able to cross his arms and block the blow. This time, however, he was too slow to block the follow-up, and Okami's massive left fist drilled into Shisami's right kidney, momentarily doubling him over in pain.

Okami seized on the opportunity, and launched into a ferocious attack, bombarding his target with heavy punches and purposeful kicks. Shisami was able to block and dodge to some success, but the majority of the blows were making contact, and several were hitting their marks cleanly, dealing severe damage in the process.

Convinced he couldn't recover enough to counter, Shisami fired a sizable blast at Okami's feet to separate him, and then fled backwards into the air. In days past, Okami might have charged recklessly after him, but here, Okami saw an opportunity, and began firing quick blasts one after another up into the air from either hand.

Shisami began contorting himself to dodge the attacks, but as he widened the distance, he found that the vast majority of the blasts were off the mark. Desperate for a chance to catch his breath and consider his strategy, and content that the distance between the two was too great for Okami to launch an unforeseen attack, Shisami dropped his guard, only for a moment.

Okami couldn't help smiling as he saw his trap set. He fired a few extra heavy blasts into the air for good measure, and then paused to admire his work. Shisami suddenly turned his head to either side as he noticed the blasts hovering in the air around him.

"Now DIE!" Okami yelled as he clasped his hands together, drawing every blast he had fired in at once to Shisami's body, creating a massive explosion and smoke cloud on impact. Okami stood still and waited patiently for the smoke to clear, and began to sense Shisami's energy.

When Shisami reappeared, he was clenched nearly into a fetal position. He had managed to cover his head with his arms and his body with his knees, but he hadn't had time to surround himself with a shield, and was now covered in fresh wounds. More importantly, his power, already inferior to Okami's had now dropped significantly, and he hadn't yet had a chance to counterpunch. For the first time, he was worried.

Okami was beginning to worry, too. He had hoped the attack would deliver a more meaningful blow to his opponent, and though he was clearly the superior fighter, over half his time had already elapsed. With that reality on his mind, he delayed no longer, and fired headlong into the sky after his opponent.

More out of panic than anything else, Shisami bolted away from his oncoming opponent, firing blast after blast in his wake in an attempt to damage, or at least slow down, his pursuer. Okami stayed hot on his trail, and after the better part of a minute, finally closed the gap, caught Shisami by the ankle, and threw him from the sky back down to the ground below, where he cratered into the ground.

Shisami quickly crawled out of the hole and found his way back to his feet as Okami reached the ground and began to walk purposefully toward him. "Who are you?!" Shisami yelled.

Okami stopped only momentarily as Shisami backed away, and spoke calmly, "My name is Okami, and I am the strongest human who has ever lived." Okami then continued his stalking of the big red fighter.

Having given up hope on stalling for reinforcements he was now convinced were not coming, and convinced that running was a lost cause, Shisami changed strategies and quickly gathered as much energy into his palm as possible. "Take this!" he yelled, as released it in a massive spray at Okami's body, now only a few feet away.

Okami covered his face with his right arm, but never stopped his pace. When the smoke cleared, Okami had some fresh soot across his body, and Shisami had succeeded in blowing his shirt to shreds, but was otherwise unharmed.

Shisami fired forward and leveled a hard right-legged kick at Okami's head, but Okami caught it easily in his left arm, and began to spin Shisami around in circles. On the pair's third revolution, Okami released his grip, sending Shisami into the side of the cliff, and sending an avalanche of rocks down on top of him, causing him to disappear from sight. Readying a kill-shot, Okami raised his right arm and fired a massive beam into the rock pile, creating a massive explosion. For the first time, Okami broke into a sweat, and he stood waiting to see if Shisami would reemerge.

After a long moment, Okami was almost convinced that Shisami was gone, when a disturbance in the remnants of the rocks caught his attention. Soon, one of Shisami's hands appeared, then an arm, and then the upper half of his torso. Finally, Shisami drug the entirety of his body out of the hole, his right arm badly broken, and stood up to face Okami.

Okami gritted his teeth and fired forward again, but Shisami raised his hand to stop him, and Okami paused.

"Just tell me one thing." Shisami said between deep, heavy breaths, "What good does killing me do? I'll be done in far less than half an hour, sure, but I've seen fusions before; you could double your power and you still wouldn't begin to approach what Freeza is capable of. It doesn't make any difference! With or without me, this all ends the same: this planet's going to fall, just like all the others."

"Maybe so." Okami responded, as he raised his arm again to deliver the final deathblow. "But only over my dead body. And yours as well."

Shisami looked directly into the blast in Okami's hand, resigning himself to death at the hands of a superior warrior. Okami channeled in all the energy he could, and pressed to finish the battle, but the blast never fired.

As quickly as he had appeared, Okami broke apart in one quick burst, and four young, tired fighters spilled out onto the sand. Shisami looked on in shock for a long moment, then threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"Four!" he finally yelled, laughing manically between sentences, "Four of you in that fusion! And you still wasted time talking! Now you'll all pay!"

As Shisami burst forward, his right arm still limp, the Earthlings quickly spread out to avoid giving their opponent the opportunity to attack two of them at once. Shisami chose to pursue Naken, and gave him a devastating elbow in the gut, doubling him over in pain and causing him to drop to the ground.

Shisami stood over him and laughed, "Not so strong now, are you humans?! I'm going to enjoy this!"

Seeing their desperation, 17 gritted his teeth and tried to force himself to his feet, to no avail. His body was broken, Dende and Popo had long since fled the battlefield, Tien was long gone, and all the new recruits were dead on the ground. The Wolf Four stood outclassed and alone.

From his position at Shisami's feet, even doubled over in pain, Naken managed to make eye contact with all three of his comrades. Gorra, Hammur, and Nein all shot quick looks to one another, nodded inconspicuously, and burst apart: Gorra directly across from Shisami and Naken, high off the ground and 50 yards away from the pair, Nein some fifteen yards to his left, and Hammur on the opposite side of Gorra, and even higher into the sky above.

"I'll let you live long enough to watch your friends suffer with you, weakling." Shisami said to Naken before turning to the others, "Now, which one of you wants to be next?"

"Right here!" Gorra yelled, flexing his power as high as he could to draw attention to himself. "Come on!"

"A brave fool. Sure, I'll kill you first!" Shisami burst forward at full speed at Gorra, his left arm drawn high to deliver a final strike. Gorra gritted his teeth and held his position until Shisami's arm was directly overhead, then drew his hands into this face and closed his eyes.

"SOLAR FLARE!" Gorra yelled, emitting a blinding light over the cloudy area, and completely blinding Shisami, who abandoned his attack to cover his eyes as he screamed in pain.

Gorra fired a ball of energy into Shisami's face to ensure his blindness, and then quickly bailed out of the sky to clear space. No sooner had he moved then Nein stepped forward, taking advantage of Shisami's open posture:

"KIKOHO!"

Nein left himself only enough energy to survive as he thrust everything else he had into the blast. Earlier in the battle, a blast of this magnitude might only have served to irritate Shisami, but here, his body already severely beaten, it hit him like a freight train, and sent him hurtling and tumbling horizontally through the air, completely off balance.

Up above, Hammur already had his attack formed when Shisami came flying beneath him. From his high vantage point he gathered himself, measured Shisami's speed, waited for his opportunity, and fired:

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The blast caught Shisami squarely in the back, and began driving him back toward the hard ground below. Completely disoriented, Shisami had no way to combat the attack, and Hammur's muscles strained as he struggled to maintain an attack both high in power and consistent in speed.

The latter part of Hammur's effort was for Naken's sake. Despite his wound, Naken had managed to force himself back to his feet, and though his knees were shaking precariously, he held there. As soon as Hammur fired, he raised his arm above his head, his brow furrowed and his eyes wide as the moment of truth closed in.

With Hammur's blast, Naken's arm made its first revolution, forming the ring of his attack. As the Kamehameha made contact with Shisami, the second revolution came, flooding the ring with energy. As Shisami hurtled toward the ground, Naken took in his speed and drew his mark, and made one more revolution with his arm, setting the disc alive with frenetic energy. With Shisami only a few feet from the ground, Naken launched the disc forward.

"KIENZAN!" he yelled, and fell forward into his attack as if throwing a javelin. He landed on all fours, but never took his eyes off the attack. Hammur, Nein, and Gorra all strained as they looked on, begging the Kienzan to reach its mark with their eyes.

Shisami turned his head in time to see the attack coming from the side, and, powerless to avoid it with the Kamehameha still bearing down on his back, raised his right arm to swat it away, only to find his broken arm was still useless.

Shisami's eyes grew wide and he opened his mouth to scream, but no noise ever came out. The Kienzan hit his body diagonally, entering through his right shoulder and exiting out his left deltoid. The disc slid along the ground another hundred yards, slicing a thin trench in the dirt as it went, before detonating on a distant rock formation. Where it had first reached it's mark, Shisami lay lifeless in the dirt, his body severed cleanly in two.

Nein, Naken, and Gorra were already on the ground, and Hammur soon joined them, all of them drawn to lie facedown from exhaustion and relief. The four crawled to within a few feet of each other, exchanged exhausted smiles, and collapsed facedown on the battlefield, surrounded by the bodies of the enemy, and lighting in the sky.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Carnage

"What is…?" Gohan trailed off, his head turning east as the energy finally settled. Goten and Trunks, too, had broken their stare to face eastward, trying to decipher what they were experiencing.

The disappearance of Okami's energy had first drawn their attention; the spike from Nein Shinhan's Kikoho had done so again. Now, the sudden disappearance of all energy in the area allowed their minds to wander as to what had taken place.

"You two felt that?" Gohan asked rhetorically, his fists clenched tight, "That fight's over. Those were our friends."

Goten and Trunks remained silent, coming to the same conclusion as Gohan: that the disappearance of Shisami's energy meant that he had finally relaxed after killing the last of the eastern forces.

Finally, Trunks spoke up, "What would we have done, anyway? This is the plan you all came up with, I guess it's working!" Assuming Tien was among the dead, Trunks's voice was tinged with emotion, to the surprise of the other Saiyans.

"I'll do without criticism of our plans from the one refusing to follow them." Gohan replied bitterly, "And what do you mean, 'it's working'?"

"Just the truth." Trunks said coldly, "You all knew our best chance to win was isolating Freeza, so you sacrificed the others to get us a clear shot at him. Right or wrong, it's what you did. You can at least own up to it."

"You're out of your mind." Gohan replied, appalled that Trunks would accuse him of using his friends and allies as pawns, "This isn't the time for you to be making accusations, Trunks. This is war, it's gruesome. Now, before it gets any worse, I'm begging you two, let's go help Piccolo. We don't have much time!"

Goten and Trunks stared back at each other, still stone-faced, neither speaking up. Gohan, out of ideas for lectures and hesitant to make good on his threat of crippling them, stood anxiously awaiting their response, his senses focused keenly on Piccolo and Uub's energy.

"You heard him, men! Charge!" Sorbet yelled from behind Freeza, as the short tyrant, now in a foul mood, squared to the tall Namekian. On Sorbet's order, all 500-plus men spilled forward, making a concentrated rush at Uub.

Confused as to whether he should counterattack or flee given Piccolo's instructions, and without another fighter to give him lead, Uub was indecisive, and simply floated high into the air, allowing the horde to close in on him.

Evading the horde was little effort; Uub could move with speed imperceivable to nearly every member of the force. Still, his mission of stalling for time prevented him from singlehandedly shredding the 500-man force, as he easily could have had done had they ever coalesced into a single mass.

Piccolo offered no aid, however, as his attention was focused solely on Freeza. With Freeza in his first form, Piccolo still believed he stood a chance if he could end the fight quickly, but he didn't care for his odds. His true intention was simply to stall for time and survive until Gohan reappeared, or, at least, to keep Freeza distracted long enough that Uub would be alive to help the Saiyans when they arrived.

With that goal in mind, Piccolo began firing rapidly paced blasts at Freeza while slowly backing away, trying to create space between them. Freeza gave chase, however, deftly phasing left and right out of danger. Before Piccolo could adjust, Freeza had closed the distance, and delivered a hard tail whip to the side of his head, sending him crashing down to the ground below.

Piccolo landed in a crouch and quickly climbed back to his feet, hurting but uninjured. "This guy…" he said to himself, "he's nothing like before…"

Freeza calmly descended to the ground across from Piccolo, his arms crossed but a serious look on his face, and began to lecture the Namekian again.

"I won't patronize you any further, Namek." He began, "You know full well I can augment my strength far beyond this. If your mighty Saiyans weren't off hiding in a hole somewhere I would've already done so. You understand, then, that the mere fact I haven't felt the need to transform with you means you haven't a chance in this battle. This is the last time I'll offer: submit now, and I may yet spare your life."

"Sorry." Piccolo responded, as he regained his breath, "Quitting's not really my style. Besides," he looked up into the sky to see Uub deftly diving in and out of Freeza's men, refusing to attack but taking no damage as he went, "what would the kid think of me?"

Freeza briefly closed his eyes and chuckled, and prepared to make a witty comeback, but never got the chance to utter it. In his brief moment of blind relaxation, Piccolo fired forward and delivered a harsh elbow into his nose, sending him rocketing backward some 50 yards. Piccolo exploded after him, and drew back his arm to begin his barrage.

Freeza flipped over backwards, drawing face-to-face with Piccolo just as the Namekian closed the distance and threw his massive fist forward. Freeza slid his head to the side, just dodging the blow, and threw a hard uppercut into Piccolo's exposed jaw, followed by a spinning kick that sent him rushing toward the ground again.

Piccolo managed to stop his momentum and hung in the air to ponder his predicament, as Uub continued to meander in the air high above him. He was capable of hurting Freeza; that much was confirmed, and given an opportunity he might even be able to kill him. But the last exchange had confirmed his fearful suspicion: even in his first form, Freeza was out of his league.

As Krillin and Yamcha prepared their assault on Tagoma, the formation below them began to show it's first signs of cracking. With two of it's three strongest fighters taken out of the formation and replaced only by Master Roshi, the advantages the formation had once enjoyed were now completely gone.

With only Roshi to offer support, the external forces were the first to give way. Try as they might, the villagers and Upa's tribesmen were exhausted from the battle, and were finally unable to hold up to their foe's overwhelming numbers any longer. One by one they began to fall from the sky, the majority dead before they ever hit the ground, and only a very few surviving the fall, until only Upa remained.

As the newly recruited Earthlings dwindled, Freeza's men moved farther and farther into the formation, their numerical advantage growing stronger by the moment, and they soon overtook Upa as well. The red skinned warrior let out a final battle cry as he unleashed the last of his energy on the strongest warrior he could find, and was overtaken by the mob, soon falling lifeless to the ground alongside his final target and leaving only the more seasoned humans to continue the battle.

Krillin and Yamcha sensed the formation giving way, but remained focused on the task at hand. From either side of Tagoma, the two orange-clad warriors rushed in together and simultaneously threw flying kicks intended for Tagoma's ribs.

Tagoma waited until the last moment, and then jolted himself backward in an attempt to make the two humans crash together. Instead, Krillin and Yamcha passed each other cleanly, hooked their elbows, and spun around to change their momentum. Turning toward Tagoma, they simultaneously fired forward again, this time attacking together at their target's front.

Tagoma began to drift backward, deftly dodging the blows, when the Earthlings adjusted again. Krillin stopped his assault and began to look for an opening, as Yamcha pressed his assault all the harder, firing forward at the most frenetic pace his body could muster.

"Wolf Fang Fist!" Yamcha yelled, setting into his signature attack. He was unable to land a blow, but did manage to force Tagoma to block. Yamcha then pressed forward all the harder, intent on using whatever strength he had to drain Tagoma of his energy.

Krillin, for his part, could find no opening in Tagoma, as the superior fighter was still far too fast for a distant blast to reach it's mark. During his pause, however, he did see the horde beginning to overtake the outskirts of the funnel, and briefly turned his attention to them.

From high above the formation, Krillin thrust his hands out and let loose a giant golden beam that quickly broke into dozens of strands. The horde, completely oblivious to the threat from above, never saw the beams coming until they were raining down on their heads. Roshi found Krillin in the sky and quickly caught his glance to let his appreciation be known. The attack had not stopped the advance, but it had slowed its momentum, and bought the Earthlings precious time.

When Krillin turned his attention back to Yamcha's battle, he was horrified to find Tagoma holding Yamcha above his head by the throat, both of Yamcha's hands clasped desperately around Tagoma's forearm. During the brief pause, Tagoma had tired of allowing such an inferior warrior to put him on his heels, and had grown deathly serious, his furious eyes locked on his prey.

Yamcha managed to turn his head enough to catch Krillin's stare, and through clenched teeth, attempted to spur his comrade on. Krillin froze, fully aware of what Yamcha meant for him to do. With Tagoma standing bolt upright and fixated on Yamcha, he was wide open. Even Tagoma's vision of Krillin was obstructed – by Yamcha's body.

Tagoma tightened his grip and Yamcha was forced to close his eyes as pain and oxygen deprivation set in. Tagoma still didn't speak, but was clearly enjoying Yamcha's torment.

Krillin raised his hand and began to ready his attack, still wholly unsure if he could find the will to fire it. Soon, with Yamcha drawing closer to strangulation by the second, the disc was humming above Krillin's head. He held it there, unable to pull the trigger.

Down below, Roshi had continued to keep tabs on the overhead battle as best he could, and decided it was time to gamble. He abandoned his reinforcement duties and bolted to Spike's position, grabbed him by the shoulder, and threw him out of the formation, placing himself in the vacant position.

"Look up! Take the shot!" Roshi screamed over his shoulder as he fought furiously to stem the tide of oncoming soldiers. Spike looked up for the first time and found Tagoma and Yamcha hanging in the air, and backed away from the formation to ready his attack.

As the situation above began to grow dire, the battle in the funnel was beginning to turn again. Despite their steady progress into the formation thus far, the horde was now struggling against the remaining Earthlings, as the massive step up in the strength of their targets took affect. By now, the battle had drug on for nearly half an hour, and while the enemy had managed to wipe out the exterior of the funnel, the formation's core was proving it's metal. 18 and Yajirobe were still holding up very well, and the others, while significantly tired out, were stubbornly refusing to relinquish their positions. Still, their defense was precarious, as Videl and Tao were beginning to bend under the added strain.

Tao was more consciences of the battle's progress than most, having been militarily active his entire adult life. He also felt his body begin to fail despite it's cybernetic adjustments and his ironclad will, and with no reinforcements coming, knew it would give out before much longer. He glanced to the side for help and found Chiaotzu pouring sweat, frantically dodging and counterpunching from every side in an attempt to hold off his attackers, in what Tao knew would ultimately be a futile effort. He reasoned that if, and when, his body did give way, Chiaotzu would be unable to hold off the added pressure, and 18's position at the fulcrum would no longer be protected, thereby rendering the entire formation useless. His death, he knew, could very well mean the defeat of the entire Western Unit.

As Tao dispelled another round of ray gun blasts, he bolted from his position toward Chiaotzu, crossing the circle of enemy combatants looking for an opportunity to attack the tiny warrior. He grabbed Chiaotzu by the arm and threw him outside the ring, replacing him in his position as both his and Chiaotzu's attackers rushed toward him in an attempt to capitalize on the newfound weakness.

Chiaotzu, caught completely off guard by Tao's action, kept his distance and thrust his hands forward, slowing as many of the enemy fighters as he could with his telekinetic powers, unsure of how else to respond. He managed to freeze a full third of the mob, but fell well short of the full brunt of the charge. 18 realized her right side was open if Tao failed to hold the position, but with the massive onslaught of foes she was already combating, she didn't dare abandon her post to interfere.

As the only member of the formation's right side still actively fighting, Tao had already calculated that its fate would live or die on his next move. "To think it would end like this…" Tao thought to himself as the horde closed in around him.

Tao tore away his tattered shirt, revealing a glowing orb protruding halfway through his chest where his heart had once been located. With his natural right arm, he clutched it tight and held steady, waiting for as many of the enemy to close in as possible.

As the enemy drew a hair's breadth away, Tao burst forward away from 18 and Chiaotzu, and clenched tight on the orb, encompassing his body in a blinding explosion of light as his core exploded in a burst of nuclear powered energy. Chiatozu shielded his eyes and attempted to cry out, but was drowned out by the noise of the reaction, and finally had to turn his face away from its heat.

Tagoma looked down at the explosion, momentarily taking his focus away from tormenting Yamcha, and loosened his grip enough for Yamcha to catch a quick breath.

"Take the shot!" Yamcha screamed, causing Tagoma to jerk his head back to attention and quickly survey his surroundings.

Spike thrust his arm forward and allowed the Devilmite Beam to spiral toward Tagoma's heart. His aim was true, but the last second, Tagoma sensed the beam and found it out of the corner of his eye. To avoid the beam, he jolted himself to the side, his hand still tight around Yamcha's throat, swinging the dark haired warrior with him as he did. The beam passed inches away from Tagoma's shoulder, and dissipated into the air behind him. Tagoma looked down at a now quivering Spike and gritted his teeth angrily.

As soon as Tagoma moved to dodge Spike's blast, Krillin saw his opening and finally whipped his arm down, releasing the Kienzan at Tagoma's exposed back. Tagoma never turned his head to see it, and it's aim was true, bound for center of his spine, but at the last second sensed it's presence and spun hard to his left to avoid it, dragging Yamcha along with him as he turned.

He was too slow to avoid the disc entirely. Krillin watched with fists and teeth clenched tight as the disc missed its mark by a hair but cut a clean slice out of Tagoma's side, just below his ribs and over half a foot in depth. Tagoma howled in pain and released his grip on Yamcha to cover the wound with both hands. Yamcha gave a quick, light smile, as he saw the attack pierce it's target, and went to move, but found it was too late.

The disc passed through Tagoma's side and continued on it's course; a course that, thanks to Tagoma's final spin, was now intercepted by Yamcha. The disc caught Yamcha cleanly across the belt, severing him in two. Yamcha coughed once, emitting a spurt of blood from his mouth, as his eyes grew wide and distant. He hung in the air for a short moment, and fell to the ground, silent and lifeless.

Feeling Piccolo's energy surging in and out as his battle with Freeza raged, Gohan finally spoke up again.

"That's it. I can't wait anymore." He said, "You two can come with me, or you can stay right where you are. I'll try not to hurt you worse than I have to, but I can't leave Piccolo alone anymore. What's it gonna be?"

After another long moment of silence, Gohan was readying himself to strike when Trunks spoke up.

"Let's go." He said plainly, still clearly affected by the eastern unit's disappearance. "This can wait. Whatever I think of you two, you're better than Freeza. He's not getting to anyone else."

"That's all I've wanted." Goten replied, "But don't think this is over."

Gohan caught the veiled threats in each of their replies, and stopped short of handing over the senzu beans to issue one more warning.

"Let's be clear," he said, more sternly than either of the two had ever heard him speak, "If either of you use these beans for anything other than stopping Freeza, I'll put a stop to it myself. And this time, I won't hold back."

Freeza fired forward at Piccolo, launching into a half-hearted assault as the Namekian struggled to keep pace. Piccolo went into a backward glide, blocking and dodging as quickly as he could, as Freeza steadily pursued him with a flurry of kicks and tail whips, his arms crossed at his chest all the while. After a long moment, Freeza tired of the game and added a hard punch into the mix. The blow caught Piccolo squarely on the temple, and sent him spiraling toward the ground once more.

Freeza crossed his arms again and relaxed, but Piccolo refused to fade away easily. En route to the ground, Piccolo extended his arm to the brink of its length, latched his claws into Freeza's tail, and yanked him from the air, reeling their two bodies together.

Before they could make contact, however, Freeza regained his balance, and with newly agitated vigor, flexed his tail up and cracked it in the air, jarring Piccolo loose and sending him crashing back down to the ground. Piccolo managed to catch himself on his knees and elbows, but even that effort went awry; no sooner had he landed then Freeza arrived, crashing down from above and driving his knee deep into the small of Piccolo's back, causing Piccolo to gasp in pain and hammering him deep into the ground.

As Piccolo lay half broken in the crater, Freeza floated back into the air and turned his back on the Namekian, examining Uub's acrobatics in the distance.

"That really is quite an impressive boy." The Acrosian deadpanned, "Too bad the teacher couldn't be more like the student."

Piccolo issued no reply, but laid gasping for air, examining his broken body and searching frantically for Gohan's energy.

Krillin still hadn't budged from his frozen, wide-eyed position when Tagoma finally cauterized his wound and examined the battlefield. He saw Yamcha fall from the sky, and then Krillin's shell-shocked expression. Along with Spike's still trembling form, the sight of it all caused him to smile in spite of the searing pain, and he began to laugh maniacally, completely ignoring the gash in his side.

In his jubilation, however, he failed to notice the wreckage Tao's explosion had caused to his force. With the exterior fighters in the formation already dispelled, nearly half of the remaining men at Tagoma's command had been within range of Tao's explosion. The explosion itself had been many times more powerful than any attack Tao could have mustered, and the result was devastating; nearly every enemy warrior within range had been wiped out, leaving fewer than 150 warriors to attack the formation.

At the sight of Tao's sacrifice, Chiaotzu screamed and began firing Dodon Ray's from either hand as fast as he could, reigning terror on the few surviving members on his side of the formation. 18 recognized the sudden weakness on that side, and finally decided to make her move, quickly diving down below the formation and leaving Yajirobe to hold off the few attackers who didn't follow her.

With enough distance between her and the formation, she leaned back and thrust both palms forward, emitting a solid beam of golden light, encompassing the entirety of her pursuers. The beam carried on, passing directly in front of Chiaotzu's face and curling into his target, decimating the remaining attackers on that side of the formation.

Tagoma finally did notice the change in momentum in the battle below him, and dropped his mocking of Krillin to intervene. Krillin snapped out of his horrified trance and gave chase in a fit of rage, but was far too slow to cover the distance.

With the right side of his unit gone, Tagoma opted to join his remaining warriors on the left, beginning with the one who had first caused him to break his concentration. With Krillin hot on his heels, Tagoma made a beeline for Spike. Spike crouched to ready one more attack, but had barely begun to gather energy when Tagoma reached him, and engulfed his body in an anger-filled, point-blank blast from an outstretched blue hand. Spike never fell from the sky; there was nothing left to fall.

Krillin, running solely on senseless rage, latched onto Tagoma's back and threw his arms around his neck in a guillotine, attempting to smother him in midair. Tagoma ripped Krillin free and threw him with both hands, sending him tumbling through the air. He then gave chase, intent on giving the bald warrior the same treatment Spike had received moments before.

Tagoma never reached his mark. Before he could close the distance to Krillin's still hurtling body, he was intercepted by a hard right cleanly to the jaw, sending him spiraling away from the rest of the battle. 18 hung in the air, and when Krillin finally came to a stop, turned her attention to him.

"We've got them beat, go help the others! I'll hold him off 'til your finished!" she yelled. Before Krillin could protest, she burst off in pursuit of Tagoma, intent on keeping him away from the battle until the remaining soldiers were dealt with.

Tien, still a long distance from the battle but close enough to sense the energy of his comrades, felt Yamcha fade away and gritted his teeth. He willed his body forward even faster, desperate to reach his destination before it was too late.

Gohan finally handed over the senzu beans, and the two young men ate greedily. They rose to their feet, gave a long cautious stare at one another, and the trio lifted silently off the ground. As if on cue, they burst toward Piccolo and Uub, leaving three wind trails in their wake.

Piccolo attempted to rise back to his feet, but felt a searing pain in his lower back and realized he was unable to move his legs, his lumbar completely shattered. He reached into his waistband to retrieve his remaining senzu beans, only to find they had been lost in one of his crashes. With Freeza's back turned as he focused solely on Uub, and Gohan's energy only just beginning to come into focus and still minutes away, he raised his right hand toward his forehead and began to gather as much of his remaining energy as possible.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

On Defiance and Desperation

By now, the storm that had been threatening all day long was beginning to roll in. The lightning remained in the distance, but had closed in significantly, and rain was starting to drizzle from the sky.

Krillin hesitated for a moment, but followed 18's order and redirected his rage at the remaining soldiers in Tagoma's Company. The battle was still white hot, but with the right and middle waves of combatants gone, the tide was beginning to turn.

Chiaotzu, lacking any fighters on his side of the formation, went to aid Yajirobe with the added load he was shouldering in 18's absence. It was an unconventional sight; most of Chiaotzu's attacks were invisible, the majority of Yajirobe's consisting of flashes of steel, but together they were quickly dispelling of their opposition. To their left, Videl was still holding her own, neither dominating her opponents nor allowing them to overwhelm her.

On the exterior, however, Roshi was struggling mightily, and it was here that Krillin elected to begin his assault. Forgoing his years of technically savvy martial arts training in favor of what can best be described as a bum-rush, Krillin lowered his shoulder and plowed full-steam ahead into a swath of soldiers directly in front of Roshi, clearing them out and momentarily allowing the old man to catch his breath.

Krillin glided in front of Roshi, eyeing the soldiers furiously, daring any enemy combatant to attack him, and spoke to Roshi with his brow furrowed, and without ever turning around.

"How are we on senzus?" he asked gruffly.

"Not well. I've been passing them out to buy us time, but we're down to just one now. I'd take it myself, but it's too valuable." Roshi replied, breathing deeply all along.

"Hang onto it tight." Krillin replied, and then sprung forward, catching an unsuspecting soldier on the side of the head with a hard roundhouse kick before launching into another enraged flurry of punches at kicks at every enemy he could find.

Seeing Krillin's advantage and feeling slightly rejuvenated, Roshi looked around for where he might be useful, and found Videl. He launched himself into the fray, and soon, the pair had begun to turn their portion of the battle to the Earthlings' favor as well.

18 hung in the air and patiently waited for Tagoma to recover from her punch and return. He took a while, but finally did, and hovered in the air across from her, sporting a fresh bruise on his right cheek.

"So, you're the fulcrum." He began, "Strange. Hardly any energy at all, but that was quite a punch. From a woman, no less. Let's hope you're not too worn out to entertain me. Those men were…disappointing."

"Well, good news." 18 replied, brushing her bangs behind her left ear, "I never get tired."

With that, the two fired off at one another and began their own battle, just as the one behind them was winding to a close.

* * *

Piccolo momentarily relaxed, wary of tipping Freeza off to the energy he was gathering, though at the moment Freeza's attention was still focused on Uub's acrobatics in the sky. He thought of simply regenerating his broken bones and continuing the battle, but he seriously doubted they would be of much use, and he intended to take full advantage of what precious energy he had left.

Freeza momentarily turned his head to address Piccolo, but didn't bother fully turning to face him. "Wait here for a moment, won't you, Namek? I have something I'd like to investigate."

Freeza floated up high into the air, leaving Piccolo ample opportunity to gather more energy, and stopped when he was alongside Sorbet, his horned head obscuring Piccolo's view of his tiny assistant. The two kept their eyes fixated on Uub, and began to converse.

"I've not yet given up on bringing that boy along with me." Freeza stated flatly. "His master is crippled in a crater; a fickle child might well be convinced that his better prospects lie with me."

"Yes, sire!" Sorbet responded, "Surely a display of your power will convince him!"

"Call the men off." Freeza replied.

Sorbet yelled loudly and gave a signal, immediately prompting his troops to halt their futile pursuit of the mohawked child and return to their commander, all completely exhausted.

"That was pitiful." Freeza told the soldiers before turning his full attention to Uub. "Boy, I may not have introduced myself properly earlier. My name is Emperor Freeza. In my first life I was the most fearsome being in all the galaxy; in this one, the entire universe. Tell me, child, what do you desire? Adventure? I can show you the farthest corners of the universe. Power? There is no one more powerful for you to aspire to. Come with me, and anything you desire will be yours."

Unbeknownst to Freeza, his rambling recruiting pitch was barely registering with Uub, as Piccolo's voice was ringing telepathically in his head. "Just let him talk, Uub." Piccolo was saying, "Gohan's on his way, the more time he wastes, the better. And do whatever you can to _keep him_ _right there_."

"Don't believe me?" Freeza asked, confusing Uub's puzzled stare for an answer to his promises. "Well, how about a demonstration? A quick sparring match, just the two of us, no pitiful soldiers or disgusting Nameks to get in our way, what do you say?"

"You can't beat me." Uub said flatly, continuing his blank stare at the tyrant.

"Is that so?" Freeza replied, slightly taken aback. "Then you've been measuring me as well, I see. Well, I suppose you're right. With things as they are now I presume you'd smash me into bits, wouldn't you? But…" Freeza smiled here and paused for dramatic effect, fully committing to his recruiting bit, "I can change."

"Let him show you." Piccolo was demanding inside Uub's head.

"Show me." Uub replied obediently, utterly clueless as to why Piccolo would encourage his opponent to add to his power.

Pleased that his tease had been well received, Freeza chuckled to himself for a moment before speaking again. "Very well." He finally said.

Freeza arched his back and flexed his muscles, straining with effort as his body began to expand and contort. His muscles bulged and his horns extended and turned upward, and his body stretched until he dwarfed his previous height.

The opportunity was not lost on Piccolo. He wanted desperately to fire while Freeza was distracted with his transformation, but his attack wasn't yet ready. Even if it had been, Freeza's violent contortions would've made him a difficult target from this range. As it was, Piccolo laid quietly on the ground, grateful for the added time.

* * *

"Freeza's kicking it up a notch." Gohan said as the Saiyan trio made their way toward the battlefield. Trunks and Goten's fight had drug them far away from Freeza, and at their current rate, the group was 20 minutes away. They knew that at any moment, however, they could kick up the pace and reach it in less than 10. They were moving quickly, but reservedly, attempting to reach the area without alerting Freeza, lest he attempt to finish off Piccolo and Uub quickly before they could arrive.

"I felt it, too." Goten replied.

Trunks nodded in agreement, and the three increased their speed slightly, content that Freeza's focus on his transformation would mask their added energy.

18 and Tagoma traded blows in a stalemate for a long while, locked in an evenly matched exchange. Finally, however, 18 made a mistake, overextending on a punch that Tagoma deftly slipped. Tagoma seized the opportunity by grabbing her extended arm and bending it behind her back, and using his other arm to lock around her neck from behind. From there he took the two into a divebomb toward the base of a massive rock formation, releasing 18 at the last moment and sending her crashing into the rock. Upon impact, the formation crumbled on top of her, and Tagoma fired a blast into the rubble for good measure, causing the pile of rock to erupt.

Yajirobe slashed through yet another soldier, and turned to face more, only to find the few remaining in his vicinity were already retreating, scattering for cover in whichever direction they could. He and Chiaotzu allowed them to leave, and quickly bolted over to Roshi and Videl's aid.

Soon, the foursome had dispelled that swath of troops as well, and turned their attention to Krillin, who was still singlehandedly combating a massive chunk. He might've defeated them sooner, had he not been incessantly stopping to check the progress of 18's battle with Tagoma.

"We've got them! Go!" Roshi yelled, as he landed a flying kick to the back of a lizard-like man's head. Krillin didn't bother to thank him, and wordlessly bolted toward 18.

Krillin landed next to the rubble and began to toss rocks aside one by one in search of 18, but after a moment she emerged of her own accord several feet away. Tattered and burned but alive, Krillin helped her to her feet and together they looked up at the blue alien, floating high above them with his arms crossed.

"You're strong, I'll give you that." Tagoma said, "But that was a rookie mistake. If I were fresh, that blast would've killed you. You can't defeat me."

"You ok?" Krillin said under his breath, so that only 18 could hear.

"Yeah." She said, heavily damaged from the attack but readying herself for more action nonetheless. Krillin noticed a gruesome wound above her right shoulder blade, where a mixture of bone, blood, and circuitry was now plainly showing. He kept it to himself for fear of alerting Tagoma to the weakness, but noted the extent of the harm his wife had undergone.

Tagoma burst down out of the sky at 18 again, but just as he was about to make contact, Krillin sprung up from beneath him and drove his shoulder into Tagoma's chest, altering his flight path off course and over 18's head. Tagoma bypassed the pair, reversed course, and attacked again, this time on even footing with 18.

Tagoma launched into an array of kicks and punches at 18, aiming to take advantage of her damage in their last exchange. 18 countered as best she could, but would've been overcome had Krillin not joined in the fray. Whatever power she had lost in her first encounter was offset by Krillin's added strength, and together, the couple fought Tagoma nearly to a stalemate, taking only marginally more harm than their opponent.

* * *

With a loud scream, Freeza flexed his muscles one last time before finally settling down and facing Uub in his 2nd Form. "Well, what do you think?" He asked, examining his fist as he repeatedly opened and closed it, "In this form, you and I should be more or less equals. Now, how about that sparring match?"

"Power up first." Uub said, once again repeating Piccolo's prompt.

"Still skeptical, are you?" Freeza replied, "Very well. I'll show y-"

" _Makansoppo!_ "

Piccolo hoisted himself up on his left arm, his broken legs still unable to provide support, and took aim at Freeza's head with his right hand, firing high into the sky above him. He thrust every bit of energy he could muster into his beam and took his shot, convinced that this would be his best opportunity to influence the battle.

Despite the distance Piccolo was attempting to cover, his aim was true. The beam's trajectory took it spiraling directly for Freeza's head, set to drill a hole straight through his skull.

At the last moment, Freeza sensed the attack's presence and instinctively jerked his entire upper body backward and turned his head to the side, too slow to dodge the beam. Piccolo's attack cut across his left cheek, burning a trench from the hinge of his jaw to the edge of his lip and continued out the other side. Freeza howled and clasped his face in pain.

Sorbet reflexively jumped in fright at the sudden commotion and turned toward Freeza. He never uttered a word, as the beam caught him squarely between the eyes, continued on through his skull, and evaporated into the distance, dropping him from the air lifeless on impact.

Piccolo collapsed back to his elbows in exhaustion and pounded the ground with his fist at the missed opportunity. Freeza was scarred, but more or less unharmed, and his eyes were now burning with rage.

"Soldiers, charge! Finish the Namek!" Freeza screamed, still covering his cheek with his left hand.

"No!" Uub screamed and shot to defend Piccolo, only to have his path cut off by Freeza.

"No, boy. You're staying here." The tyrant hissed.

Uub attempted to fire past his nemesis, but when he tried, Freeza caught his leg as he passed and flung him through the air in the opposite direction. Upon his recovery, Freeza was set firmly in his path once again.

* * *

Finally, tired of the mostly fruitless exchange, Tagoma relented, firing a blast at his foes to separate himself. The blast caught both Krillin and 18 on their inside shoulders and pushed them backward, burning them in the process and lowering their guards, but Tagoma elected not to press his attack, opting instead to catch his breath and reassess the battle.

Tagoma was tired, but upon inspecting his adversaries, began to smile to himself. He was fading, but not nearly as fast as them; Krillin was taking heaving breaths, clearly running on fumes, and the damage 18 had taken in his earlier attack was slowing her more and more by the moment.

Sensing the inevitability of his victory, Tagoma raised his power to attack again, and both 18 and Krillin anchored down in their stances in anticipation of more conflict. No sooner had they raised their guards, however, then they were joined on either side by their remaining allies, having killed or chased away the last remaining members of Tagoma's force. 18, Krillin, Chiaotzu, Yajirobe, Videl, and Roshi all assumed defensive stances and stared defiantly at their last remaining enemy.

Tagoma was clearly the strongest warrior remaining on the battlefield, that much was indisputable. At one time, 18 had been relatively close, but ever since their exchange, the gap between the two had been widening by the moment. In a strange reversal of fate, the only advantage the Earthlings had was in their numbers. Surely, Tagoma thought, it was only a matter of time until he picked them apart, one by one.

"Worthless scum." Tagoma uttered as he watched the remnants of his retreating force disappear into the distance. He crouched low, stared hard at his opposition, and began to raise his power to its peak again

* * *

Piccolo stared defiantly into the face of the descending horde, and began to speak to Uub telepathically again. "Uub…" he began, "it's alright. Don't worry about me. I've done this before."

Fully aware that he lacked the energy to effectively counter the onslaught, Piccolo gathered what smithereens of power he had left, and waited for the force to reach it's mark. Uub froze in the air, locked on Piccolo's words.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, but help's on the way; you'll be alright. I believe in you, and I always will."

As the enemy closed in around him, Piccolo closed his eyes and felt Gohan closing in, and cracked a small, brief smile, knowing that Uub and the Earth were in the best hands possible. Satisfied, his eyes snapped open one last time, and he prepared for his final moment.

Piccolo hoisted himself up on one arm again and stared into the heart of the horde as it closed in around him. He waited until the last moment possible, and with a ferocious roar, threw up his free arm and released all his remaining energy at once, encompassing the area in a pulsating golden dome. The brilliant flash of light encompassed the entire valley, attracting lightening to it's core and causing his targets, as well as Freeza and Uub, to shield their eyes from it's glare.

All but a very few of Freeza's remaining men found themselves encompassed in Piccolo's final attack, and saw their bodies disintegrate in the desperate rush of energy. The remnants were blown backward in every direction, clinging to life before they hit the ground. Piccolo lost consciousness as he allowed every ounce of energy to leave his body and encompass the area, never to see the result of his final action.

As the light from his final blast faded away and the clouds regained their position, the rain that had been threatening all day finally started to set in in earnest, forming its first puddle in the bottom of Piccolo's crater. His harshly burned body steamed softly in the rain, and as his head lay softly in the mud, the raindrops slowly dripping off the tips of his drooped antennae.

 _Author's Note:_

 _Hey guys. So real quick, I should address the obvious: I missed two weeks. I apologize for that, and I wish I could say it's never going to happen again, but the reality is that life changes, and free time's a little harder to come by for me these days. I fully intend to keep the story moving forward, but there will probably be some missed weeks. Hopefully you all bare with me._

 _There's nothing really pressing to address, other than the fact that nobody really likes Trunks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, and there's not much I can do about it anyway other than keep the story moving. As such, I'll keep it short today. Thanks for sticking with the story, hopefully you guys are cool with character deaths, and I hope you all enjoy it._

 _\- SlotT7_


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Death Do Ye Part

"Piccolo… _"_

Gohan had come to a screeching halt in the air, Goten and Trunks to either side. He wore a horrified, faraway look on his face as he felt Piccolo's power surge one last time, and then fade away, leaving only emptiness in its place.

" _PICCOLO!"_

Gohan screamed, and then burst forward with all his might, leaving Trunks and Goten hanging in the air, their hair billowing in the wind from his departure. After pausing for a brief moment longer, they, too, shot full-speed toward the site of the battle, but were unable to match their elder's speed. Driven by rage, Gohan zeroed in on Freeza's energy and made a full rush, abandoning any pretense of concealing his energy. His only thoughts were of avenging Piccolo, and doing so in time to save Uub. Still, even at his blinding speed, he was minutes away.

* * *

As it was, Gohan had no reason to bother concealing his energy, as Freeza's senses were already being overwhelmed by energy of a different source. Freeza had been looking back over his shoulder at Piccolo as his final blast went out, erasing almost all of his soldiers, but he was now facing forward again, increasingly intrigued by Uub, and completely ignoring the death of his most trusted ally.

Uub was hunched forward with his chin tucked into his chest, flexing and grunting loudly as the rain began to gain momentum all around him. Moment by moment, his grunting grew louder, and he began to glow in a dark pink aura again. Soon, the aura was pulsating around his body, and Uub snapped his head up, his eyes ablaze and locked on Freeza. The big tyrant slid back cautiously, but not nearly soon enough.

" _RRRRAAAAAAHHHHHH!"_

Uub let loose a primal scream that reverberated across the valley, crumbling the tops of distant trees and forcing Freeza to wince at the sudden volume. As he did, his aura swelled wide around his body, pulsating as Uub's energy charged. Without warning, the aura burst forth in a concentrated mass directly at Freeza, who crossed his arms in front of his face to block the attack, and managed to do so, but was blown wildly backward, completely out of control, his forearms badly burned from the sudden attack.

Even as Uub's attack met Freeza, the young warrior never moved, and his aura never relaxed, but continued to pulsate around him. Soon, with his eyes still fixated on Freeza, individual strands of glowing pink energy began to fire off from around his body, seemingly of their own accord. Many made beelines for Freeza, where they continuously burned him as he flew helplessly backward through the air. The rest sought out the few remaining survivors of Freeza's army, raining down death from above, piercing their bodies until not a single one remained.

* * *

Tagoma eyed the group of Earthlings sternly as they cautiously widened out from their tight formation, eventually forming a circle around him. The humans were resolute, none showing any signs of hesitation or fear in the face of their final opponent, but they were clearly tattered and beaten, all with fresh wounds and heavy damage to their clothing. Even Yajirobe, a lifelong coward, had his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

Tagoma was also ready for combat, having spiked his energy to its peak in a fit of frustration. He was furious at the failure of his soldiers and, by extension, his failure as a general. His only solace, and his only hope of surviving Freeza's wrath, rested on dispelling of these last six humans and continuing on to take West City by himself. He, too, was heavily damaged and fatigued, but he still had more than enough strength to outmatch even an accumulation of the Earthlings' power.

Tagoma slowly transferred his eyes from one member of the group to the next, evaluating each of their power and the extent of their damage before finally choosing his target.

Tagoma's eyes finally settled on Videl, judging her to be the weak link of the group. He gave a quick, devious smile, and made his move, racing off the ground with a quick twitch and making a hard line directly for her. Videl dropped into a defensive stance to defend herself as best she could, and waited for death to arrive.

For now, however, death was held at bay. The moment Tagoma made a move, both Chiaotzu and Roshi threw their hands out, momentarily breaking Tagoma's rush and, after he had broken from the initial shock, slowing his pace as best they could. Chiaotzu was gritting his teeth as he struggled to hold his enemy in place with his palms out wide, and Roshi was grunting hard as he tensed his hands, attempting to cramp every muscle in Tagoma's body with his Lighting Flash attack, as sparks emitted off Tagoma's back.

For all their effort, the two were unable to provide little more than a speed bump to Tagoma, who fought through them and continued his drive toward Videl. They did buy a moment of extra time, however, providing Krillin ample opportunity to enter the fray. The short warrior shot his body in front of Videl's and began to confront Tagoma head-on.

Their battle was over quickly. For a brief moment, Krillin held his own, aided by Chiaotzu and Roshi's interference with Tagoma's body, but after countering a few quick blows, Tagoma landed a devastating fist to Krillin's stomach, just below his ribs, knocking the wind out of his body and causing him to drop to the ground from the pain of his freshly bruised organs.

At the same moment, both Chiaotzu and Roshi gave out, and dropped their hands in exhaustion, but Tagoma would have no time to gloat. No sooner had Krillin hit the ground than Videl reappeared, jumping into the air from behind Krillin's body and delivering a hard roundhouse kick to Tagoma's skull, turning his head on impact.

Tagoma's head whipped around with the force of the kick just in time to see Yajirobe rushing forward with his sword drawn, preparing to slice him in half. At the sight, Tagoma allowed his body to continue spinning and, before Yajirobe could change course, the alien delivered a hard kick to his chest and clasped a hand tight around the blade, cutting his palm deeply but shattering the blade in the process. Yajirobe went rocketing backward, tumbling along the ground as he went, the blunt force trauma of the kick having knocked him completely unconscious.

By turning to face Yajirobe, however, Tagoma had opened his back to his greatest threat. His momentary distraction cost him dearly as 18 fazed in behind him, a large glowing orb in each hand. Simultaneously, she thrust her hands forward into the middle of Tagoma's back, encompassing him in golden light and, soon thereafter, a billow of smoke.

18 and the others who were able jumped back away from the site of the attack and waited for the smoke to clear, thankful for each precious moment of rest.

* * *

Before Freeza had reached the end of his backward tumble, Uub had shot forward and closed the gap completely, reappearing directly over the top of his now prone opponent. Uub clasped both hands above his head and slammed downward, drilling Freeza in the middle of his chest and sending him rushing to the ground.

Upon impact, the horned Acrosian was swallowed by the Earth, as though he had landed in a sinkhole, but Uub didn't relent there. With rage still burning in his eyes, Uub drew his hands above his head again, this time with his palms open and overlapping one another, and screamed loudly:

" _MASENKO-HAAAAA!"_

A massive beam of golden light erupted from Uub's hands as he threw them forward, chasing Freeza down the hole. The flood of energy soon filled the hole, and the surface of the earth around it began to crack and glow, even shining streams of light up into the air. Soon, the earth could take no more pressure, and the entire area exploded in a mass of light and rubble, flattening over half the valley and clouding the air in smoke and dust. Tired from his furious assault, Uub drifted up above the debris, and took deep, heaving breaths as he continued to search for Freeza.

At the bottom of what remained of the hole, Freeza lay flat of his back coughing, covered in fresh burns and soot. "Insolent child…" He muttered to himself, "Such potential...it's a shame he has to die."

Freeza regained his balance, but never emerged from the hole, instead firing a quick dome of energy around himself to create space, and began to contort his body again. Soon his bones were expanding, covering more of his exposed flesh than ever before, until finally, even his skull had grown wider and elongated, completely mutilating his appearance.

Up above, by the time Uub noticed Freeza changing, his transformation was almost complete. With Freeza out of sight, Uub was calmed from his rage, and gasping desperately for air as he took in his situation, trying his best to remember his training. He focused on Gohan's impending energy for a long moment, trying to decipher exactly how far away he was, until finally Freeza could be ignored no longer. When he finally did sense Freeza's energy, he held his place, reluctant to enter a blind, underground fight, and he dared not levy a blast powerful enough to threaten Freeza at the Earth's core, especially with reinforcements so close at hand. Piccolo would advise caution, he knew, and he dared not dishonor his memory so brazenly by abandoning his teachings so soon.

Finally, with smoke still hanging in the air, Freeza emerged, floating up to eye level with Uub in his third form.

"You could have joined me, boy." Freeza said with a stern look, as Uub settled into his stance and his eyes lit up again, "My empire might even have been yours one day; instead, you'll die on this pathetic rock. Prepare yourself."

"You killed Mister Piccolo…" Uub said, as his energy began to boil up again, his aura pulsating more intensely by the moment. "I'm not the one who dies here."

The two fired forward with their fists drawn back and clashed in the air, sending a harsh flash of light over the area powerful enough that the clouds overhead momentarily parted before closing back together and continuing the downpour.

* * *

When the smoke around Tagoma's body finally cleared, he had dropped to one knee, his back still turned to the group. 18's blast had decimated the back of his armor, and his exposed back was now badly burned. Slowly, he rose to his feet and turned to face the Earthlings again.

He looked over his shoulder at Yajirobe, alive but no longer a threat in his current state, before turning his full attention to the others. Krillin was still on his hands and knees, gasping for air and unable to rise to his feet even with the help of both Chiaotzu and Roshi. For their part, neither had sustained any significant damage, but were exhausted from the effort of slowing Tagoma, and were hardly in fighting shape after hours of battle. The only Earthlings fighting with anything near able bodies were the two strongest women in the world, 18 and Videl. The humans had won the first round, but they had paid a heavy price.

Fully aware of their situation, the two women stepped forward ahead of the others and crouched low, readying themselves for another round. Tagoma stood bolt upright and raised his power again, weaker than ever before but still oceans out of any human's league.

"Well. Come on, then." He finally said.

On cue, 18 rushed forward, Videl hot on her heels, and laid into a furious assault on Tagoma. Soon Videl had reached her mark and joined in the assault, and together, they began to push their target backwards.

"They're winning!" Chiaotzu yelled excitedly, still struggling to help Krillin to his feet.

"For the moment…" Roshi replied cautiously, his eyes fixated on the battle.

As the old man feared, Tagoma's disadvantage was short-lived. In a display of his status as a seasoned combat veteran, Tagoma soon took note of the relative inexperience of his opponents and attempted to capitalize by strategy rather than raw, energy-expensive power. He rose quickly into the air, maintaining his defense all the while and creating distance at a breakneck pace.

Just as he had suspected, 18 pressed her advantage, staying hot on his heels, even as their speed grew too fast for Videl to continue to offer support. With his foe isolated, Tagoma finally used his superior strength to counterattack with three quick blows: one to 18's shoulder to stunt a punch before it reached it's mark, a second to her left kidney, doubling her over in pain, and finally, a hard elbow to the back of her head, sending her crashing back to the hard ground below.

With 18 out of the picture, Videl was caught open and vulnerable in midair. Tagoma came careening down at her, his fist raised like a hammer to deliver a deathblow. Videl hit the brakes but knew she lacked the speed to retreat, and raised her arms above her head in a desperate attempt to block Tagoma's blow as it came crashing down from above.

The blow carried enough power to kill Videl four times over, but at the last moment as it came crashing down, Chiaotzu and Roshi thrust their hands out again, putting all their strength into concentrated attacks on Tagoma's shoulder; the strategy worked, slowing the speed of his arm significantly. Videl's block saved her life, but the blow still caught a piece of her temple and sent her crashing to the ground with the others. Upon her crash landing, the young woman fought hard for consciousness, and briefly even tried to climb back to her feet, but the attack and her dearth of energy overcame her, and she collapsed, blacked out on the battlefield.

Chiaotzu and Roshi had each dropped to a knee beside Krillin, who was still on all fours, while 18 managed to drag herself off the ground and stand up to face Tagoma as he slowly descended to earth again. Her knees shook with the weight of her body, but she steadied herself as best she could, attempting to draw Tagoma's attention away from her allies fully aware that she would be able to do little more than delay their inevitable demise. Tagoma looked her over and smiled, knowing her defeat would ensure his victory.

"Roshi…" Krillin managed to cough as he winced in pain at the effort. "Give 18 the last senzu…if she's fresh she can beat him…"

"It won't work…" Roshi spat between deep, heaving breaths, "It would heal her body, but her mechanics are broken just as badly. She wouldn't stand a chance. You take it."

"What? I can't take him!" Krillin spat out.

"You're the best we've got! We're not dead yet, we'll give you all the help we can!" Roshi reached into his belt and pulled out the last remaining senzu bean, and held it in front of Krillin in his palm. Krillin stared at it for a moment, before shooting his eyes back to the battle at hand.

"Woman or not, you were a fine fulcrum. I won't deny that." Tagoma said as he raised an outstretched hand at 18, still far too beaten and damaged to move with any speed. "Not long ago, a warrior of your strength would've annihilated me. I'll remember this victory as long as I live."

Krillin sensed the energy building in Tagoma's palm and made his move. He snatched the seed out of Roshi's hand with his teeth and bolted off the ground to intercept the blast, bound to pull his wife out of the way or dive in front of the blast himself if need be. With no thought but saving 18, he fired forward with all his might, completely oblivious to the world around him.

Krillin's speed was imperceptible to the common human eye; his start was a split-second too late. Tagoma's blast passed Krillin's face close enough to singe the whiskers on his lip. 18 never flinched, but stared harshly into the attack as it washed over her, driving her backward before finally passing over her into the distance, leaving her body lying atop the dirt as though she'd fallen asleep. Krillin rushed to her side and held her head in his lap, begging her to wake up, with Tagoma looking on coldly, before slowly lowering his arm back to his side.

The storm finally reached the Western Front in a quick downpour. The rain hid Krillin's tears, but as it hit 18's exposed wounds, a wild array of sparks flared up erratically.

* * *

Freeza and Uub were deadlocked in a furious exchange, neither side able to gain an advantage. For the better part of a minute, the two traded blows evenly, dealing damage and receiving it in identical portions. After a long exchange, Uub caught Freeza in the jaw with a stiff right jab. Normally, Freeza would've shaken it off, but here it caught his fresh wound from Piccolo's attack, and lit his body ablaze with pain, brushing him backward and giving Uub the advantage. Uub pressed forward, and did a good deal of damage to his opponent as Freeza struggled desperately to regain even footing in the battle.

Finally, Freeza regained his bearings and caught Uub in the side with a tail whip, an appendage Uub had forgotten to account for, and briefly separated the two, buying himself enough time to become aware of his surroundings.

Even as Uub was barreling toward him again, Freeza's eyes widened with a sudden realization: a massive power was closing in, and would be upon him momentarily. In his present state, he knew that meant certain death.

Freeza thrust his hands out and created a large ball of red, shining energy, placing it between himself and Uub. He allowed it to grow until it was roughly the size of Uub's body, and then pulled back a free fist and punched it, creating an explosion that dealt a decent amount of pain to himself, but succeeded in sending Uub hurtling backwards. Freeza seized the opportunity and rocketed away from his young opponent and the impending energy, and bolted for cover behind a distant hill.

By the time Uub recovered from the surprise of Freeza's maneuver, the Acrosian was nearly halfway to his mark. Uub quickly gave chase but found he was unable to close the gap, and began firing high-octane blasts one after another in Freeza's wake.

Several of the blasts clipped Freeza and burned him, with one even hitting him squarely in the back, but after traveling such a distance they lacked the strength to stop his momentum. Finally, with Uub still a long distance away, Freeza topped the hill, dropped down behind it, and began to augment his body once again.

Sensing the rising power Uub stopped in his tracks and thought hard, knowing full well seconds could make the distance between life and death. On the other side of the hill, Freeza was straining hard again, pain coursing through his body as his long, hard exoskeleton began to stretch and cover the last few remaining bits of exposed tissue along his body, his power steadily growing all the while.

Uub needed an attack with enough berth to demolish the gigantic hill from half-a-mile away and still carry the muscle to disrupt Freeza, a fighter already of equal strength to himself. Unfortunately, for all the valuable lessons and techniques Piccolo had taught him, he did not have a move readily available for this specific situation.

"Come on, come on…." He said to himself time and time again, Freeza's power growing all the while, when suddenly, it hit him.

" _KAMEHAMEHA!_ "

Mimicking the technique Goten had used against him countless times, Uub thrust his hands forward and sent the beam on a collision course for the hill like a locomotive through a tunnel. Uub gritted his teeth and bared down into the wave, pouring everything he had into it and hoping against hope he was doing it right.

The wave leveled the hill on impact, creating a new valley awash with blue light. Uub kept up the assault as long as he could, holding his arms out as they shook from the pressure until he was utterly drained, and then released, gasping desperately for air. He hung there in the air and awaited the result of his blast, completely devoid of excess enery.

As the light faded and the smoke cleared, Uub made out the distant image of a new, unfamiliar form. Soon it became clear: Freeza, in a, sleek, white, and heavily charred form was steadily approaching him, a look of furry on his face, and one hand clasped over his burning cheek.

* * *

Krillin knelt next to 18 for a long while. Tagoma, satisfied that the battle was won, didn't bother to interfere with an opponent in no shape to defend himself; sadistic as he might have been, Tagoma did not lack sportsmanship. Roshi and Chiaotzu, the only other conscious Earthlings, managed to rise back to their feet, but didn't dare say a word.

Finally, Krillin slowly lowered 18's head to the ground and stood up, the rain in a full downpour all around him. He looked down at her with his shoulders hunched for another long moment, before finally turning his body toward Tagoma and stiffening his back, his eyes still fixated on the ground. Slowly, he raised his head to Tagoma and locked eyes with him. The two stared at one another for a full ten seconds in the pouring rain, before Krillin finally spoke up.

"I… _hate_ you…"

Tagoma began to laugh, chuckling at first, but his laughter grew as the moment went on until he was in full-on maniacal hysteria. Krillin clenched his eyes and his fists until he couldn't take it anymore, and then snapped his eyes wide open in rage.

" _I'll kill you!"_

In a fit of rage, Krillin began raising one hand over the other, forming rudimentary Kienzans as quickly as he could and firing them one over the other at Tagoma. Tagoma saw the attack coming and backed up to create space as Krillin poured every ounce of energy he had into his attacks.

One after another after another, Krillin fired blindly ahead through the rain, as Tagoma dodged with relative ease. After over two-dozen Kienzans, Krillin felt himself tiring, and abandoned the strategy, blindly charging forward at his opponent, but keeping one hand outstretched behind him as he went.

Once again, Roshi and Chiaotzu threw out their hands, locking Tagoma in place and opening the window for Krillin. Tagoma was caught off guard by the outside interference, and momentarily cramped under the sudden pressure as Krillin threw his arm forward, a freshly charged Kienzan in his palm. The disc made a beeline for Tagoma's throat, and Tagoma jerked hard to release himself before it reached it's mark.

Tagoma was partially successful. He succeeded in pulling his neck away from the attack, but not his body, as Roshi and Chiaotzu strained with all their might to hold him in place. As he jerked free from the distant grasps, his body jerked sideways and he threw his arm up in an effort to keep it from being sliced off. In this respect, he succeeded, but the disc continued forward and bent hard at the last moment, slicing a gaping hole between his first and second ribs on the right side of his body.

Tagoma yelled in intense pain and fell forward, catching himself on his right hand as he cauterized his wound with his left. Krillin continued to charge ahead, intent on delivering a decisive blow to his opponent, tired as he was. He had almost closed the distance, when Tagoma threw up his left hand and levied a hard blast with a loud " _RAHHH",_ catching Krillin squarely in the chest from pointblank range and sending him rocketing backward, the beam almost completely encompassing his body, and the force of his thrust cracking the short warrior's sternum.

Tagoma slowly climbed back to his feet and surveyed his surroundings. Roshi and Chiaotzu had fallen back to their hands and knees in exhaustion, and Krillin, now some 20 yards away was lying on his stomach, exhausted, beaten, and badly burned across the front of his body. Try as he might through his rage and determination, the bald warrior was struggling mightily even to rise up off the ground.

"Enough!" Tagoma screamed, searing pain shooting through his body with every motion. "No weakling humans are going to defeat me! You all die here!"

Tagoma began to pace toward Krillin, when he found his path blocked by a panting old man, his body aching with every movement. Roshi was exhausted, but willed himself in front of Tagoma, and held his ground.

"Foolish old man." Tagoma said flatly, and extended his palm to deliver a final blast to the old man. Roshi held his ground, knowing full well he lacked the strength to retaliate, but content to drain Tagoma of whatever bits of energy he had left. Just before Tagoma fired, Roshi dashed forward, his face concealed behind an elbow aimed for Tagoma's throat. The old man never reached his mark, as Tagoma's blast overtook him and erased him from sight.

"Master…" Krillin gasped through gritted teeth, still unable to climb even to his knees.

Tagoma gritted his teeth in pain at the effort but soon turned his attention back to Krillin and began to stalk toward him again. Before he could take a step, however, he was stopped again, this time by a sudden wait on his back.

Tagoma grunted and wildly swung his arms to rip Chiaotzu free, but never got the chance. Without final words, Chiaotzu took what smithereens of energy he had left and exploded, destroying himself in the process. The blast knocked Tagoma off his feet and badly burned his neck and back, and he yelled in pain as his skin boiled. All the while, Krillin looked on in pain, desperation and fury mixing together on his face.

After another long moment and several furious screams of pain, Tagoma drug himself off the ground and began to march toward Krillin again, fearing that a blast with the power to kill the human from this distance would render him unable to return to Freeza, exhausted as he was. He moved slowly, but assuredly, knowing the last of his obstacles was in front of him, and smiled cruelly into Krillin's eyes.

" _YAAAAAAAHHH!"_

Tagoma screamed again as he came to the sudden realization that, once again, he had failed to fully account for his obstacles. He fell forward and reached for the back of his left heel, only to find his Achilles tendon severed in two, with the stunted trunk of a broken blade lodged in it's place.

Yajirobe was face down on the ground with a long trail of disturbed mud behind him, where he had slid along the ground, unable to rise to his feet. He was laying on his right side, protecting as many of his broken ribs as possible from his weight, with the trail behind him streching over 100 yards. Ever since he had regained consciousness, Yajirobe had drug himself, quietly, painfully, back into the fray of the battle, with little more than the hilt of his sword for a weapon.

Tagoma stood on his healthy leg and picked Yajirobe up off the ground. Yajirobe, far too weak to fight back, gritted his teeth in pain and remained silent. Tagoma threw Yajirobe with all his might into the distance, where upon impact with the gorund, his broken body finally gave in, killing him on impact.

"Who else?!" Tagoma screamed, as he darted his eyes from one prone body to the next. "Just her…" he said as his eyes found Videl in the distance, still unconscious but clinging to life in a puddle of rainwater. "And you." His eyes settled back onto Krillin, who had managed to fight his way onto one knee.

Unable to place weight on his left leg, Tagoma began to hobble toward Krillin, hopping and dragging his prone leg as he went, not daring to expend the energy necessary to fly, and unsure if he even possessed it anymore. For as broken and depleted as he was, the blue alien still vastly outmatched the short human, and he pressed forward to finish his job. Inch by inch he drew nearer and nearer, the entirety of his taunting demeanor completely replaced by rage.

Krillin's body was shattered and burned, but as Tagoma limped closer, and with no one to offer aid, he forced himself to rise, determined to die on his feet, and even forced himself to crouch defensively one final time. Tagoma closed in to within arm's reach, stopped, and stood upright. The two battered warriors stared hatefully into each other's eyes, neither making a sound, save for their heavy, exhausted breaths.

"Goodbye, human." Tagoma finally said, as he extended an open palm into Krillin's face, "You died well."

" _KI-KO-HOOOOOOOOOOH!"_

Tien shot down from the sky like a falcon on its prey as a bolt of lightning cast a blinding flash of light around him. With his right arm extended and his hand clenched in the shape of a talon, just as he had positioned it when he fired at the Saiyan, Nappa, years ago, Tien thrust his fist between Tagoma's shoulder blades and into his spine, where it erupted with every ounce of energy the three-eyed warrior could muster.

The result was devastating: Tagoma's body, for all it's strength, was unable to withstand the pressure of a pointblank Kikoho. Blinded by rage, bloodlust, and pain, neither Krillin nor the blue warrior ever felt Tien's energy coming. The blast shattered Tagoma's spine at the point of impact and reverberated throughout his body, shattering his weakened body and tearing muscle from bone as it went. Krillin felt the rush of energy reverberate like a drum in the pit of his stomach, but he kept his feet, the finely aimed blast completely shielded by Tagoma's body.

Tagoma collapsed to the ground, alive but utterly broken, unable to even scream. Tien, blown back by the recoil of the blast, skipped along the ground like a stone on the water, eventually coming to a stop some 20 paces away, face down on the ground, where he clung to consciousness and life.

Krillin was left standing over Tagoma's now prone body, utterly shocked, where he looked down at the blue warrior. Tagoma was unable to speak, but looked up at Krillin through the corners of his eyes, and plead for mercy with them as best he could.

The two locked eyes for a long moment, until Krillin found his eyes drawn to his left. There, only a few steps away, was one of Freeza's fallen soldiers. In his chest, undamaged from the battle, was Upa's spear.

Krillin hobbled over to it, and with a painful shake removed it from the dead soldier's sternum. As he hobbled back, fury mounting on his face, Tagoma's desperate look never faded.

Finally, Krillin stood over the alien, and held there for a long while before speaking. "If Goku was here, he'd tell me to let you live. Even after everything you've done." He finally said coldly. The two stared for another long moment, until a quiet voice drew Krillin's attention away.

"Kr-Krillin…" Tien forced out, as he willed his head off the ground to look into Krillin's eyes. Krillin paused and waited for Tien to find the strength to speak, only the drizzle of the rain breaking the silence. Finally, Tien caught a breath and forced out his message: "No more mercy."

Without another word, Krillin thrust down with all his might, and planted the spear into the back of Tagoma's neck, killing him instantly. Finally victorious, the Earthling fell into a seated position in the mud, and shook uncontrollably.

* * *

Freeza charged forward, faster and angrier than ever before, and drew back a flattened hand to pierce Uub's body. Exhausted as he was, Uub held his position, anchored into his stance, and prepared to finish his fight. As Freeza closed the distance, Uub threw a hard right, but the exchange he had intended never occurred. As if he had been aiming for the wind, Uub's fist passed harmlessly through the air, and his eyes widened in shock just as Freeza reappeared above him, clasped his hands together, and brought them crashing down into the nape of the young boy's neck.

Uub crashed into the ground below in a light crater, and by sheer force of will turned himself over to look up at Freeza. The mutant, no longer intent to toy with Uub as he felt the distant energy drawing dangerously near, set himself on a beeline for the boy's vulnerable body, aiming for the kill.

"That's it! Goodbye, boy!" the Acrosion's battlecry rang out over the storm. Uub tried to move, but was frozen by injury, exhaustion, and fear, knowing full well that even at full strength he was no match for this iteration of the monster.

Freeza closed the wide gulf between them in a split second, and thrust his arm forward at Uub's heart. Uub closed his eyes tight, and waited for the final strike.

 _*PAAAAHHH*_

The sound rang out over the valley like the crack of a wooden bat on a ball, snapping Uub's eyes open as it did. Freeza was gone, hurtling through the air, now already over a mile away. In his place, only just now lowering his leg from the devastating kick he had just delivered to Freeza's ribs was Gohan.

Gohan held in the air facing Freeza, and looked down at Uub through the corner of his eye. "You alright?" he finally asked.

Uub nodded slowly, a look of awe on his face, as Gohan took in his surroundings. Goten and Trunks arrived just as Gohan found the remnants of Piccolo's crater, causing him to clench his teeth and fists and shake with suppressed rage.

"Everyone stay back." The dark haired warrior finally commanded. "He's mine."

 _Author's Note:_

 _Alright y'all, I need to apologize. Like I said last chapter, situations change and it's a lot harder for me to keep up with this story these days. Still, my pace lately has been pathetic, I understand that. This chapter's noticeably longer by design; I'm trying to progress the story as much as I can when I find the time to write it, so that may be the structure of the story going forward. My fear in doing that is that I'll glaze over a lot of important explanation trying to get us from point-to-point, but I think that's a marginally better option than waiting weeks between chapters only to have one with no action in it._

 _Here's the more important part, though: Somehow, some way, I am going to get this story finished. By that I mean, this story isn't going into perpetuity; I have a set ending planned, and even if it takes a lot longer to reach it than I originally intended, we're gonna get there, I promise you._

 _Anyway, this chapter pretty much nails us down to the final battle of the arc, so despite the wait, I hope everybody's excited for it, and just as importantly, I hope everyone's pleased with how the side battles were handled. There were a lot of deaths, I know, but if I handled it well, the suspense and drama of the situation does more to further the suspense of the story than bum people out. If the deaths are bumming you out too much, all I can say is, hey, they've still got the Dragon Balls._

 _Thanks for sticking with me, guys,_

 _\- SlotT7_


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The Man and the Monster

Krillin sat quietly, rain falling all around him, staring blankly at his bloodied hands. Shell-shocked by the battle, the sudden return to peace was unsettling, but not nearly so much as the bodies that surrounded him.

In a flash, the stillness was broken as Dende and Popo suddenly appeared behind him. "Krillin!" Dende yelled, and jumped off the carpet to place his hands on Krillin's back.

"Not me, heal them!" Krillin yelled, suddenly snapping back into reality and shaking Dende away as he gestured toward Tien and Videl. Dende obliged, but the little bit of healing he had performed on Krillin was enough to give him some of his mobility back, and as he ran toward Tien, Krillin staggered laboriously in his wake.

When Krillin arrived, Dende was hunched down low, his hands laid firm behind Tien's shoulders, but wore a worried look on his face as the three-eyed warrior continued to grimace in pain.

Dende looked up at Krillin, and before he could utter a word, the short warrior's heart dropped once again. Finally, the Guardian did speak:

"I don't understand…It's not working!"

* * *

"You can't be serious!"

Trunks was furious. He had declined the initial clash with Freeza specifically to avoid falling pretty to his comrades' irrational tendencies; he had been threatened and attacked for his lack of faith in them; he had expended precious energy reaching the battlefield as quickly as possible; and now, here at the site of the battle, with the enemy outnumbered four-to-one, Gohan, of all people, was declaring that he would confront the monster alone.

Gohan never broke his glare from the spot he had lost site of Freeza, but squarely faced it with his brow furrowed.

"Do I not look serious to you?" he asked, taking the others slightly aback with the malice in his voice. "If it weren't for you two, I would've been here; this never would've happened. Freeza's mine; stay out of my way, you're too weak to help, anyway."

Trunks scoffed in enraged irritation, but offered no other response and held his ground. Goten, satisfied that Uub's injuries weren't life threatening, stood tall, his eyes fixated on his brother.

"Gohan." He said, drawing his brother's attention. The two locked eyes, each of their brows furrowed seriously. Neither spoke, and only broke their stare when Goten nodded sternly. Gohan returned the nod, and fired into the distance to confront Freeza alone.

* * *

"What's wrong?!" Krillin was asking, half-yelling as he did. Dende had a worried look on his face, and had his hands planted firmly in Tien's back, working as hard as he could to keep the triclops alive.

"I don't know!" Dende yelled back, "He's not healing! He's fading faster than I can heal!"

Krillin's heart sank again, and he began to look around frantically for something, anything, that might save his friend, until he heard the three-eyed warrior's voice, barely audible over the rain.

"It's alright." Tien said, forcing an elbow beneath his chest to support himself, Dende's hands never leaving his back despite his halfhearted attempts to wave him away.

"Tien! What's going on? Why aren't you healing?!" Krillin begged helplessly.

"It's the Kikoho. The old guys always said it would shorten my life whenever I used it; looks like I've hit the end of my leash. It wasn't ever meant to be used like that." Tien was breathing deeply between sentence fragments, but was speaking calmly despite the gravity of his words.

"But you've died before, you had a fresh slate! That can't be it!" Krillin protested.

"Not since the Saiyans came. Besides, I really overdid it today. And I put everything I had into that last one; he was too strong, I had to be sure it took him down."

The resoluteness in Tien's voice caused Krillin's heart to drop again as he accepted the inevitability of the situation. "NO!" he screamed, pounding the earth as he did. "Everyone's gone! 18, Yamcha, Roshi, everyone! Not you, too!"

"It's alright." Tien said, finally managing to wave Dende away, "I've done this before, don't worry about me." Krillin sat down in the mud next to Tien's body as Dende knelt beside him, a long moment passing with nothing but the rain to break the silence. Finally, Tien spoke up again, even weaker than before.

"This has always been us, huh?" he said, dropping his head back into the mud. "We never were the heroes. Lifetimes worth of work, and we barely made a difference."

"You're heroes today." Dende offered flatly, causing Krillin to raise his head up and Tien to crack a soft smile, barely visible as his three closed softly shut.

"No, but we found a way." Tien said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I'm proud of who we were."

With that, for the first time in his life, Tien Shinhan gave up the fight, and he passed away into the next world.

* * *

Freeza watched Gohan come into focus as he stood atop a hill near where the young Saiyan's kick had sent him. The Acrosian fumed silently, arms crossed across his chest, as Earth's mightiest warrior drew toward him.

Gohan found an adjacent hill and landed there, content to spend a moment examining his opponent before their battle began. Once the two had ample time to size one another up, Freeza spoke up to taunt his opponent.

"A moment later and that boy of yours would've been a goner. Too bad you monkeys didn't arrive sooner, that green one might've made it a bit longer, too."

Gohan didn't answer, but stood tall, staring daggers through his nemesis until Freeza spoke up again.

"My, you look like him. Gohan, was it? Listen, young man, you may take after your father, but that won't be nearly enough. I'm nothing like the Freeza you remember."

"You're just like him." Gohan said, his rage beginning to boil again. "I watched my father make you pay for what you've done; now it's my turn."

Freeza grinned widely as Gohan fumed. "Is it, now?" he asked tauntingly.

With that, Freeza flexed his muscles and raised his power, screaming as he did and shattering the ground beneath his feet. Gohan never flinched, but stood upright, his left foot forward toward his enemy and his arms firmly by his side, as he waited for the alien to finish.

When he finally did, Freeza began cackling as the terrain around him continued to reel from his efforts. "Do you understand now, boy?!" he yelled, "My power is unmatched! Incomprehensible! The new reign of Freeza is upon the universe! This is where it begins!"

"No." Gohan said, his voice dropping nearly to a growl, chilling Freeza's spine as he spoke. "This is where it ends."

* * *

Videl was just returning to consciousness under Dende's healing when the reinforcements from the East appeared in the distance. Flying in a V-shape formation, the Earthling survivors easily could've passed for migrating ducks until they were nearly on top of the western battlefront. Gorra flew at their head, full steam ahead with the others matching him to the best of their abilities, until they were close to enough to be sure the battle was already won. Here, Gorra raised his hand to signal a halt to the charge, and glided slowly to the ground, touching down in the middle of the carnage.

In total, the East sported a dozen survivors: all four Wolf School students, 17, and seven of the new recruits, many of whom would have been killed by their injuries if not for Dende's efforts before he returned to aid the Western forces. They had been decimated, but had fared far better than their counterparts.

"Master Krillin!" Naken called out as he ran along with Gorra to Krillin's side, causing their master to raise his eyes away from the mud to face them. Upon seeing his face, the two suddenly stopped in their tracks; upon seeing 18's broken body next to his Master, Naken dropped to his knees in the mud, and buried his face in his hands.

Gorra, however, quickly caught his breath and continued on slowly to face Krillin. "Master…" he finally sputtered, "I'm sorry…we got here as fast as we could…I led them straight here…"

Krillin tried to console his students, but failed, and clenched his eyes shut again as his head dropped. Another long silence followed, until the sound of vomiting broke through upon Hammur discovering Yamcha's remains. Nein found Tien's body, gritted his teeth with a stiff sniff, and fired a quick blast into the ground, forming a shallow grave. He laid his master inside, filled the hole as best he could, and sat down next to it quietly, staring off into the distance.

17 walked over to Dende, now frantically racing from soldier to soldier attempting to find potential survivors among the carnage of the Western forces with Videl and Popo by his side acting as nurses, of sorts.

"You're the one with the Dragon Balls, right?" the Cyborg asked, not managing even to draw the Guardian's eyes away from his work. 17 was walking normally, for the most part, but his circuitry was exposed and badly damaged, and he looked as worse-for-wear as any surviving member of the Earthling army, particularly as sparks randomly appeared across his body as his circuitry came in contact with the rain.

"I am." Dende replied curtly.

"Go get them and wish 18 and these others back. I don't want to see her like this." 17's voice shook unsteadily as he finished the sentence, and he rubbed his hand across his mouth uncomfortably.

At this, Dende did react; the young Namekian froze and looked around from one shell-shocked survivor to the next, unsure of what to do, until finally someone offered him aid.

"No." Krillin said, finally rising back to his feet. He followed Nein's lead by forming a small grave for his wife, and laid her inside before walking over to join the others. "Gohan and Freeza are just starting to fight; we can't use our wishes yet, we might still need them. Everyone here will be fine until they're done."

17 started to argue, but the pained expression on Krillin's face was enough to make him think better of it. Soon, Dende had made his way through all the remaining soldiers, saving three lives from the Western forces, and all the survivors gathered around to await further instructions.

"Mr. Popo." Krillin finally said, forcing himself to take charge of the situation. "Take Dende, Videl, and 17 back with you to the Lookout. Leave Videl there to guard everyone in case this gets uglier."

Turning his attention to the others, he continued, "Videl, if something goes wrong, we have to have enough time for them to escape, especially Bulma. See what she can to do repair 17. Dende, once 17 is repaired, take the Dragon Balls and go hide with him somewhere only Mr. Popo can find you. If Freeza comes looking for the Dragon Balls, he won't be able to sense 17's energy, and even if he finds you, 17's our best chance at a last defense.

"Once they're hidden, come back and join us, Popo. We'll need you to run messages to Dende, but we can't risk him being anywhere near Freeza. Does everyone understand?"

"What about the rest of us?" Hammur asked, hiding his rage as best he could.

"Everyone else is with me." Krillin said, dropping his voice as he did. "We're marching on Freeza in force. I don't know if there's anything we can do in a fight like this, but as long as we're on our feet, we're gonna be ready. This might be my last battle; I'm not stopping 'til it's over."

No one argued, but stood stiff jawed, giving subtle nods of their heads. Krillin nodded to Dende, rose up into the air, and with 14 freshly healed warriors at his flank, began a steady advance toward Freeza and Gohan's battle.

* * *

Trunks, Goten, and Uub pearched atop a third hill some distance from the pair of super warriors to watch the battle unfold. Uub was still heavily damaged and rattled at the breadth of Freeza's power, but Trunks and Goten stood on either side of him, several feet apart like twin pillars, cross-armed and stone-faced, waiting for the battle to begin.

Gohan moved first, bolting forward and firing a vicious overhand fist at Freeza's forehead, which the Acrosian blocked by throwing up his right forearm, a shockwave emitting through the air as the strike met the block. Gohan followed hard with a knee to Freeza's kidney, causing the alien to wince in pain, but before Gohan could press his advantage, Freeza spun hard to his left, whipping his tail as he did and catching the Saiyan across the ribs, knocking him several feet away. Gohan steadied himself quickly, and with a burst of energy, fired forward again, this time meeting Freeza in the air in a furious exchange.

The two traded evenly for a long while, dealing out damage in equal portion amid a wild blur of their 9 appendages, until Freeza finally began to push Gohan backward. Rather than cede the momentum, however, Gohan fainted away from the attack and dropped below the Acrosion, dodging a kick close enough that it grazed the top of his hair. From below, the Saiyan thrust his arms up into the air and fired, a mass of yellow light emitting from his hands underneath the mutant's body as he did.

Freeza, for his part, stayed composed. The Acrosion dropped to a knee atop the ball and threw down his hands to take on the pressure of the wave. Soon, he was rocketing up and away from the Saiyan, but the blast served as little more than a platform for him to ride, and once he was a safe distance away, he rolled cooly to the side and allowed the blast to carry on into the sky, blasting a hole through the clouds as it exited the atmosphere.

Uub was standing wide-eyed, in awe of the skill the two had displayed in the quick exchange, having never seen a fighter of Gohan's caliber fully let-loose before. Trunks and Goten, however, never moved, or even lessened their scowls, but continued to stand cross-armed and hard browed as they watched the two titans clash.

"They're close." Goten finally said.

"Hmmm." Trunks replied. Uub darted his eyes from one to the other looking for reassurance, but their stoic demeanors told him everything he needed to know, and he returned his attention to the fight.

Now, Freeza took his turn on the offensive, rising high into the sky and then divebombing back toward Gohan. By the time he was halfway to his mark, the upper half of his body was glowing from the heated energy behind his rush. Gohan quickly dropped to Earth and anchored his hips in anticipation of the clash.

Freeza dive-bombed like a rocket reentering the atmosphere toward Gohan, who gritted his teeth and prepared for the collision. At the moment of impact, the Saiyan threw up his hands, pulsating orbs of energy in each one, and caught the Acrosion by his lead shoulder. The clash of energy sent another massive shockwave across the valley, leveling what few hills and trees remained, and the two stalemated, frozen in position, waiting for the other to give way.

The two hung there a long while, straining for all they were worth, until finally, Gohan was forced to bend. Rather than allow himself to be driven into the Earth, however, the dark haired warrior gathered what leverage he could find and fell flat of his back, surprising Freeza and pulling the Acrosion down on top of him as he went. Once he was on the ground, the Saiyan quickly drew his feet into his chest and blasted them back upward into Freeza's abdomen, lifting his hips off the ground as he thrust for added power.

Freeza emitted a soft "Oof" sound as Gohan's kick landed, and he flew several yards away, but easily regained his balance and touched gingerly down on the earth just as Gohan was springing back to his feet. The two stood at the ready, sizing one another up again, the first signs of battle only now becoming visibly apparent.

Finally, Uub could contain himself no longer, "Goten!" he said in a loud whisper, wary of irritating the two Saiyans, "Gohan's winning, right?"

"Nobody's winning." Goten replied curtly, still fixated on the battlefield.

"So they've got the same power?"

"No." Trunks said boldly, drawing both Uub's and Goten's attention but never turning his eyes away from Freeza. "Freeza's stronger. And it's not that close."

Goten lowered his brow at Trunks, but didn't protest, and soon turned his eyes back to the battlefield. "Wait…" Uub said softly, "Then how come they're tied?"

Here, Trunks did turn his face, and stared hard at the boy before giving his answer. "Because Gohan's better."

Uub was perplexed, and looked to Goten for clarification, but found none, as Goten's eyes were still fixated on his brother.

Uub turned his eyes back to the battle at hand just in time to see the two warriors fire off at each other again, this time taking special care to absorb every bit of minutia in their clash. Uub allowed his eyes to follow the flurry, just as Piccolo had instructed, and for the first time he began to understand.

Freeza's first punch was blocked by Gohan's forearm, but his follow up was on the mark, bound for the Saiyan's chin. Gohan reacted quickly, however, throwing his head back as far as he could, slipping the punch by less than an inch.

From there, Gohan pressed forward, taking advantage of Freeza's extentended position to slip beside him and deliver a hard blow to the back of his head. The punch would've landed, but Freeza was an instant too fast, and managed to turn his body and throw up a forearm to deflect the blow before launching into another furious assault.

The entirety of that exchange lasted less than a second, but Uub saw every move, and understood Trunks's words for the first for the first time. Freeza had the advantage, only for Gohan to change the odds at the last second, seeing through his opponent and countering perfectly. From there, Gohan had the tyrant dead-to-rights, only for Freeza's superior speed and strength to offset the advantage and start a new flurry. And so it went, again and again: a little more strength for Gohan, and his superior skill would've carried him to victory; a little more for Freeza, and it would've been of no consequence.

Gohan could feel his muscles beginning to burn with every effort he gave, but he forced himself forward again nonetheless and locked into another viscous flurry with the Acrosian. He was frustrated, having fought the entire battle as a counterpuncher, but his fatigue was of far more consequence; only Majin Buu had pushed him this far since the old Kai had awakened his power, and he could feel his body beginning to wane under the strain of the battle.

For his part, Freeza was equally frustrated. Despite his superior strength, the Saiyan was stubbornly refusing to yield. Time and time again he gained the advantage, only to have it neutralized or turned against him, his rage mounting with every failed effort.

Tired and impatient, Freeza freed himself from the onslaught by firing a hard, energy-expensive blast between himself and his opponent. Gohan blocked the blow, but was thrown backward by the sudden force of the red wave, and upon his recovery, found himself in the throes of a firestorm of hot, red beams.

Lacking other options, Gohan turned tail and bolted away, attempting to clear himself from the firestorm. Feeling clear of the danger, Gohan turned his head to locate his opponent, but Freeza, was nowhere to be found. By the time Gohan's head turned back around, it was too late to react.

Freeza reappeared directly in front of the Saiyan, finally having anticipated one of Gohan's moves. Gohan saw Freeza in his path, but before he could react, Freeza brought both hands down onto the back of his head, sending him crashing toward the ground.

Gohan gathered himself en route to the earth and managed to land in a crouch, but Freeza kept up the assault. No sooner had Gohan landed then he was forced to dive to the side, narrowly dodging a raging blast of energy, and continued bounding as Freeza fired heavy comets one after another from above, each one leaving a crater in it's place as Gohan fired away again, slipping the attacks by slimmer margins with every leap.

"Not good…" Goten said through gritted teeth. Uub, still exhausted and growing increasingly worried, mirrored Goten's every move, but Trunks stayed still, the only sign of any stress coming from in the form of a slight tightening of his muscles.

"Come on…think!" Gohan was shouting internally, as he dodged yet another blast, this one close enough to feel the rush of air as it passed him and cratered into the Earth. "There's got to be a way out of this…"

Gohan thought of returning fire, but doubted he could muster a blast with the caliber of Freeza's in so little time. He could shield himself and attempt to weather the storm, but he had no guarantee he could outlast the monster, and a failed attempt would not only likely kill him, but could draw in enough energy to a single point to threaten the Earth's foundation. Freeza's power was overwhelming, the gap between them was growing by the moment, and at this distance, Gohan's superior skill was completely neutralized. Staying on the ground meant death, sooner or later; that much was certain. His only option, he finally decided, was to fire upward into the teeth of the attack, dodge every blast the tyrant threw his way, and counter from in-close.

Gohan hit the ground one final time and gave a ferocious battle cry as he spiked his energy to its peak and fired upward, immediately phasing hard to his right to dodge the next blast. Freeza noted the tactical change and met it with ferocity, thrusting forward all the harder with one orb after another, until the sky was alight with his attack.

Gohan phased in and out, in and out, drawing closer to Freeza by the moment. As he neared, he was unable to dodge the blasts altogether, but he managed to limit them to glancing blows and blocked as best he could, and fought through the pain of the burns as he drew in closer and closer to his target.

Freeza fired again and again, willing his body to it's absolute limit, determined to kill the young warrior here and now. His muscles burned and his eyes widened as he saw the distance between them closing, but he forced himself onward, each blast he fired carrying the capacity for destruction if only one would reach it's mark.

Only a body's length away, Freeza fired a full beam from an outstretched right hand, directly at Gohan's skull. The Saiyan dipped low, phased out of sight, and reappeared in front of Freeza and to his right, well within arm's reach, a look of desperate furry on his face. As Gohan drew his fist back for contact, Freeza only had time to open his mouth to scream.

That was all the time he needed. Gohan opened his body to throw his punch, but never reached his mark. A massive beam came cascading out of Freeza's open mouth, completely enveloping the upper half of Gohan's unprotected body, sending him rocketing out of the sky and back to Earth again.

"Gohan!" Goten screamed, and fired toward his brother's landing place, now well over a mile away. His hair shot blonde and his speed was blinding, but Freeza was already hovering over his brother, preparing the deathblow.

Gohan drug his charred face out of the dirt in time to see Freeza cackling overhead, but his body was reeling from the blast, and his muscles refused to move. "Say hello to your father for me! Goodbye, Saiyan!" Freeza screamed with laughter as he raised his arms over his head, forming a pulsating ball of energy. Lighting sprayed across Goten's body as he raced toward Gohan, but he lacked the speed to close the distance. With a primal shriek, Freeza arched his back and put a final charge into the orb before bringing his arms down with all his might. The Acrosion met Gohan's eyes with his own, and released.

 _WHOOOOOSH_

Without a sound to indicate the cause, Freeza's went tumbling through the air like paper through an open window, his orb rocketing off its intended trajectory and away into the atmosphere as he did. Goten froze in the air and looked hard from side to side in confusion, but smiled wryly when he found the source.

With lightening pulsating across his body and his long hair standing high overhead, Trunks was hovering in the air, nearly a full mile away. His hands were still raised, and if put together would've made the signature diamond of the Kikoho, but his right arm was extended and his chin was tucked, striking a pose as though he were using the overlay of his hands as the scope of a rifle.

In the knick of time, Trunks had sighted Freeza in the open window between his thumbs and wordlessly fired, an ultra-concentrated sliver of his Kikoho catching Freeza between the shoulder blades just as he released his orb. Even now, as he floated down toward his fellow Saiyans, Trunks's eyes never left Freeza's distant form.

Gohan's body finally began to recover from the shock of the blast, and he drug himself off the ground, brushing fresh blood off his cheek and shoulder as he did. "Thanks." He finally said to the other Saiyans between deep, panting breaths, as the trio landed side-by-side and turned their eyes toward Freeza together. "We've got him now."


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Golden Ice

Freeza spiraled out of control for over three miles before finally sloping back to Earth, skipping once on his back like a stone on the water before regaining some modicum of control and forcing himself upright, finally coming to a stop on his hands and knees, panting heavily and sweating porously from his brow into the mud.

From any position, the force of Trunks's blast would've blown him backward, but here it had been especially effective. Blindsided and in a vulnerable position, the force of the blow had struck him a terrible blow. Under different circumstances, the Acrosian might've shaken it off like a strong burst of wind, but here, tired and unguarded, the pain in his back was burning like the gash of a dagger.

Freeza felt his rage beginning to boil, but forced himself to abstain in favor of stewing anger. Moments before, he had been readying his kill shot on the only adversary in the universe capable of challenging his power. Now, tired and battle-weary, he was outnumbered, and even beginning to doubt his own strength.

He had been stronger than Gohan, there was no doubt about that, and without interference the battle was his. Still, Gohan had given him every bit the struggle his father had in the early stages of their battle, and he remembered that outcome all too well.

To make matters worse, his chief opposition's allies were incomparable to Goku's. Where Goku had only the Namek and two severely overwhelmed allies to aid him, Gohan had Goku's second son, his power still unrevealed, but no doubt formidable in it's own right. Even more concerning was Vegeta's brat; the purple-haired Saiyan was connected to the one Freeza had first met on Earth, he was sure of that, but their power was incomparable. For all the strength Gohan had shown, Trunks's blast rivaled anything the Acrosian had ever felt.

Any further thoughts were interrupted, as three bolts of streaking light suddenly came to a stop around him, triangulating the Acrosian in the center. Freeza gritted his teeth and turned until he faced Gohan, locking eyes with the eldest Saiyan.

"What's all this?" Freeza asked, briefly darting his eyes to Goten and Trunks before fixing them back on Gohan. "Don't tell me you intend to mob me. You're your father's son, where's your honor? Our fight's not finished!"

"My honor?" Gohan asked, slowly raising his power again. "My honor's in protecting my home. Our fight's over, you won. But this war still has one more battle."

With that, Gohan screamed and his power rushed high again, Goten and Trunks followed suit, their hair shooting bolt upright and blonde as lightning sparked off their bodies and across the turf to Freeza's feet. Freeza gritted his teeth and growled as he hunkered into his stance, and prepared to make his final stand.

* * *

Uub had moved to a safe distance in sight of the battle, watching the group intently from high in the air, wishing desperately he still had the strength to intervene. He was fixated on Freeza's every move when a hushed yell broke his concentration.

"Uub! Come down here!"

Uub looked down and saw Krillin, surrounded by his host of Earthling warriors, standing on the ground below, and quickly descended to meet them.

"Master Krillin!" Uub yelled, nearly tackling Krillin as he sprung onto him. "You're okay!"

"Yeah, we are so far, I guess." Krillin said, even breaking a half smile as he set the child back on the ground. "What about you guys, how've you held up?"

"Mister Piccolo's gone…" Uub replied, hanging his head momentarily before forcing himself to straighten up. "But everyone else is okay! Gohan saved me, and he nearly beat Freeza all by himself! And when he couldn't, Trunks saved him, and now they're all fighting together!"

"You're kidding…" Hammur spat from the background.

"So what now, Master?" Nein asked. "Should we form Okami and help out?"

"Right." Gorra offered, "He'll still be outmatched, but a Kienzan or a Kikoho might leave a mark on Freeza."

"No way." Krillin responded, surprising the others, "If we enter the fray, we'll have one shot to make our mark before we're dead men; we need Freeza as weak as possible before we do anything. No one moves without my order; not even you, Uub."

Everyone nodded in short order, allowing Krillin to continue his orders, "Alright. Get where you can see the fight, and be ready to jump in on my mark. We're not gonna be stupid this time, but if we're going down, we're going down swinging."

With that, all 15 men sprung in different directions, careful to remain on the ground to suppress their energy. Uub, the only warrior still in place, slowly rose back into the air, convinced that his position was of no consequence, and fixated on the battle once again.

* * *

Gohan crouched to lunge first, but wouldn't get the chance, as Trunks beat him to the mark. Like a flash of lighting, Trunks covered the distance to his target and threw a devastating roundhouse kick at his unsuspecting target's ear.

Freeza's eyes barely detected Trunks's movement before the moment of impact, but his moment of awareness was all it took to throw up a forearm to block the kick, snapping Trunks's leg to a halt in full-swing.

Freeza started to bring his free arm to Trunks's jaw for a counterpunch, but wouldn't get the chance. Just as he started to swing, another flash of golden light appeared in his periphery on the opposite side, forcing him to redirect his arm and catch Goten's outstretched fist only inches from his jaw.

Gohan raised his brow in surprise and held his ground as he watched his two young allies launch into a furious assault of their superior opponent, 8 limbs flying at a torrid pace as Freeza, tired and outnumbered, was forced into a backpedal, all five of his own limbs fixed into a flurry in a desperate effort to defend himself. What impressed Gohan most was not their courage, nor their strength, however; instead, it was the ease in which they attacked together. Neither's strikes ever interfered with the others, and even seemed coordinated, and the two switched position seamlessly, leaving no opening for a counterattack, as though they were sharing one mind.

Finally, Gohan reentered the fray. With Freeza completely occupied by his fellow Saiyans on either side, Gohan fired straight ahead and high, catching the Acrosian completely unaware. With full license to strike, Gohan sprung between his allies and kicked his right leg with all his might, catching Freeza squarely beneath the jaw and sending him rocketing away.

Tired as he was, Gohan had the advantage and pressed it, catching up to Freeza well before he was able to halt his momentum and slamming him hard from above with his hands clasped together, careening him back toward the Earth once again.

Freeza never hit the ground, however, as he was caught inches away from impact by a viscous kick in the small of his back, leaving Goten smiling in his place. Out of control again, Freeza managed to reel his head around just in time to see his Trunks, each palm aglow and a smile of anticipation on his face, waiting in his path.

Trunks threw his arms forward and caught Freeza's chest in his hands, locking eyes and smiling at the Acrosian for a brief moment before releasing the golden energy from his palms in a tide of heated light. Freeza screamed wildly as he went roaring away into the distance, this time completely out of sight of the others, his strength fading further with every inch he traveled.

Freeza hit the earth flat of his back, skipped and bounced again on his stomach, before landing again on his chest and sliding for fifty some-odd yards before finally coming to a stop, his face and torso nearly skinned clean from the ferocity of his slide.

He had scarcely drug his face out of the dirt when three streaks surrounded him again, as Gohan, Goten, and Trunks took their positions, and waited patiently for him to regain his feet.

Not wanting to give up an opening, Freeza immediately forced himself out of the mud, slower than ever before, and charged directly at Goten, who he deemed to be the weakest. He threw a viscous overhand punch, but it past harmlessly through an afterimage as Goten reappeared beside him and delivered a hard knee into the soft of his gut. As he hung in the air only two feet above the ground, Trunks bolted over and grabbed him by the tail, flinging him up into the air as he spun away in one slick move. Disoriented and out of control, Freeza barely registered his condition when Gohan caught him in midair by his throat and delivered a devastating flood of blue light into his face from his free hand, sending him crashing back to Earth once again, more battered and energy-depleted than ever before.

As the Saiyans surrounded him again, Freeza managed to rise to his hands and knees, but his shaking arms prevented him from going any further as reality began to set in inside his mind. His army, for all it's training, had proven useless, or else he never would've entered the fray. His commanders, for all their strength, had been overcome, or they would be here, now, to offer him aid. And now he, the strongest being the universe had ever known, was to be next, beaten by three inferior mutts of a race of inadequate beasts. Their forefathers were moronic barbarians on one side and helpless weaklings on the other, and yet here they stood, stacked against him three-to-one, preparing to finish him for the final time.

Gohan walked forward and placed his heel on Freeza's side before softly rocking his leg forward, knocking Freeza flat of his back again. The Earthling stood over him from the side and looked down at him coldly, as Freeza struggled desperately back to his knees, refusing to give in.

"Enough." Gohan said gruffly. "It's over. Even without their help, you're no match for me now. You're hurt, you're out of energy, and you're outnumbered. Your men are gone, and your ships are destroyed. You're beaten. Don't make us drag this out."

Freeza, refusing to go down with breath still in his lungs, forced himself onto his feet, wobbling on shaking knees as he did.

"I don't take any pleasure in this." Gohan said through gritted teeth as Freeza struggled beneath his chin. "I'll make it quick. Or you can save me the trouble; just lie down and die."

"Let me do it, then." Trunks interrupted, smiling deviously, "I'll take pleasure in it."

Gohan turned his head and shot Trunks a warning look, managing to stop him short. All the while, Freeza was growing steadier, his strength slowly returning to him as his body strove to recover from its damage.

"Lie down and die...'" Freeza's mind was repeating, his eyes still fixated on the mud below him as he finally felt his legs steady beneath him."

"Lie down and die?" Freeza asked, verbally this time. He said it softly, like a child struggling to understand instruction, as though the thought had never occurred to him before, and with only the slightest tinge of malice in his voice, causing Gohan to raise an eyebrow warily as he looked down on him.

"Die?" He asked, boldy this time, and stood upright, his sudden burst of strength and the rage in his eyes causing Gohan to take a half step back precariously.

Freeza felt his blood beginning to pump through his veins again, and flexed his muscles, feeling them tremble and pulsate as they never had before. He might've been impressed with himself, but rage had overcome his mind. He was little more than lunatic when he finally screamed, thrusting energy away from him as he did, forcing Gohan into a full on backpedal until he was even with the other Saiyans, all three shielding their eyes against the wind of Freeza's sudden rejuvenation.

"I am Freeza!" the Acrosian screamed. "I do not _lose._ I do not _lie down._ And I _do not DIIIIEEEE!"_

Freeza let loose a bloodcurdling screech as he arched over backward and flexed every muscle in his body, forming a gigantic crater beneath his feet as he did. His power began to skyrocket, and wild streaks of energy began to spark off his body as he did, until his power was rocketing out of control.

"No!" Trunks yelled, and thrust his arms forward, emitting a rocketing blast of golden energy toward Freeza, but it only splashed harmlessly off his pulsating aura, never as much as drawing Freeza's attention.

Gohan and Goten moved to follow suit, but never got the chance. Just as they readied their shots, Freeza let loose another scream, more intense than ever before, and hunched forward, flexing his arms and back until they looked like they might burst. A golden aura surrounded him like a spotlight, until suddenly Freeza stood bolt upright, and with a deep inhale, his aura flooded his body from every pore, forming a golden cast around his form. The three Saiyans stood wide-eyed and slack-jawed as Freeza's body finally relaxed, emitting more power than they had ever imagined possible.

Driven by a primal instinct for safety in numbers, Goten and Trunks backed away slowly until they were on either side of Gohan, all three with their fists raised and one leg forward in anticipation of momentary combat, but looks of mixed shock and fear on their faces.

Finally, his muscles slowly relaxed as Freeza calmed his breathing from his viscous heaving until it was nearly natural. Calmly and deliberately, he examined his muscles and newfound gold-colored flesh for a long while, before finally raising his head to glare down the assembled Saiyans beneath his furrowed brow, an evil smile across his face.

"You were saying?"


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Eyes

"No…"

Krillin was hiding alone behind a boulder, so far away from the battle he could barely distinguish Freeza's form. Even from this distance, his throbbing head told him everything he needed to know: Freeza had changed, and dwarfed every power he had ever felt.

"This doesn't happen to us..." the short warrior muttered through clenched teeth. "This happens _for_ us! What's going on?!"

The other humans held their hidden positions, some slack jawed, and all trembling with fear.

* * *

Gohan, Goten, and Trunks were fairing poorly as well. The three stood side by side, anchored into defensive stances with their brows furrowed, but not daring to make a move. Freeza, satisfied that he was safe from attack, chuckled to himself and began to examine his new form, stretching out his arms one after the other and slowly opening and closing his fists.

"I wonder," the Acrosian finally said, without so much as looking up at his adversaries, "is this how Goku felt when he changed on Namek? Surely he could feel his power, he knew he had already won - but what was in his heart?

"Wrath, probably." Freeza continued, finally looking from one Saiyan to the next, examining their individual strength and demeanor. "I had killed his friend, after all; and a sense of duty, probably, to protect, his son. But he wanted sport as well, and was willing to die for it, and then he still found room for mercy. He was an interesting fellow, if nothing else.

"But me," Freeza locked eyes with Gohan here, and allowed his newfound strength to boil beneath the surface of his flesh. "All I feel is _hate_."

Freeza straightened his back and shrieked into the sky, the rock beneath his feet erupting in every direction. Goten and Trunks were forced into reluctant backpedals, but Gohan held his ground, shielding his eyes from the debris as Freeza's power washed over him.

"This is it…" Gohan thought, as Freeza's power continued to skyrocket. He felt it tower over Freeza's previous form, leagues above anything he had ever felt from his father, or Buu, or in himself. And now he was tired, his body already at it's limit, and for all his strength, he was completely and utterly overwhelmed.

Just when the Saiyans thought Freeza might relax, he screamed again, and allowed another rush of power to come roaring out of his body, as he discovered another wave of power in his new form. Trunks and Goten finally reached a distance they could set their feet, and Trunks turned and began to shout over the noise.

"Goten!" he screamed, "We've got to move! Now!"

"Right!" Goten returned, and the pair blasted forth, passing Gohan on either side as they did.

"Stop!" Gohan screamed as the young warriors arced around him, but was far too late. The Saiyans put every bit of strength they could muster behind their rushes and closed the distance to their target in a flash, each dragging pulsating orbs of energy in their palms in anticipation of the clash. They approached the Acrosian from opposite sides of his frame and threw their arms forward, bound to meet in the middle.

Freeza felt their energy surge and cracked his eyes open, smiling as he did. He bided his time, waiting for them to close the distance until they were on top of him. The two young warriors thrust their arms forward toward either side of Freeza's skull, but never reached their mark. With inches separating the Saiyans from their target, Freeza threw out his arms and issued an earthshaking kia from either palm, sending Goten and Trunks flailing into the distance in opposite directions, as he rose high into the air to trace their landings.

As his allies disappeared into the distance, Gohan determined his chances would get no better, and took Freeza's momentary distraction as his opening. The Saiyan rushed forward, met Freeza's eyes for a split second, and phased out of sight. Freeza blinked in disbelief for a split second as he lost his opponent, but suddenly felt his eyes drawn, as if magnetically, high above him. He raised his eyes just in time to see Gohan crashing down from above, his hands aglow and clasped high over his head, and a battle cry erupting from his lungs.

Caught off guard by the sudden speed, Freeza's only reaction was pure instinct. He squinted, threw his forearm overhead, and braced for impact. Gohan met his eyes and surged his power for all it was worth, pouring every ounce of energy he could find into his blow. The distance closed, and the Saiyan swung; his gold-clad fists met the Acrosian's golden arm, and another heated flash of light blinded the world around them.

* * *

Goten, still reeling from the pain and loss of equilibrium he had experienced during his tumble, had to pull back his eyes from the flash. Krillin, with his arms wrapped tightly around the young man's chest, instinctively lowered the two to the ground behind a small knoll, the only cover he could find.

"Thanks for catching me." Goten said, momentarily forgetting his reverential language for his master. "I'm really glad you're ok."

"You too, kid." Krillin replied, almost cracking a smile, "We'll have time for that later. Get back in there. I'm right behind you."

Goten nodded quickly, and then bolted forth, careful to stay on the ground to mask his approach, bounding between trenches and stones all the way, as he worked to regain sight of the battle at hand.

* * *

Trunks, too, had been caught before he could make impact with the Earth. Now held on each shoulder by Hammur and Nein Shinhan, the young Saiyan was just able to shield his eyes from the glare of the clash between Freeza and Gohan, and shook himself free from his freshly blinded comrades.

"Thanks." He muttered, as the trio descended back to Earth and took cover as best they could. "How many of you are left?"

"Less than twenty." Hammur replied. "We won on both fronts, though. We're here to help, however we can."

"Tien?" Trunks asked, momentarily allowing his attention to wander from the battleground. A subtle shake of Nein's head was the only response he received.

The light in the sky began to fade, and Trunks instinctively turned his attention back to it's source.

* * *

With the air around them still awash in light, and a loud ringing still in his ears, Gohan finally began to regain a grasp of his surroundings. He was still in the air—still locked in the same position, in fact. And just below him was Freeza, his left arm still raised, with clenched teeth and fresh, black burns his forearm.

The two locked eyes again, and the fury that had filled Gohan's eyes moments before suddenly left them and flooded Freeza's. Before the Sayian could react, the Acrosian had reached up with his free arm, grabbed him by the side of the neck, and thrown him high into the air toward the brink of Earth's atmosphere.

Gohan tried desperately to regain his balance, and very nearlly did, but would have no opportunity. Freeza reappeared above him and dropped a vicious elbow into the small of his back, cracking several vertebrae and sending him crashing back to the ground.

Again, before Gohan could reach the Earth, Freeza's flashed in front of him, and delivered a blow with devastating punishment, this time from a knee to the stomach that sent the Saiyan flailing sideways, devoid of air in his lungs.

And so it went, time and time again, in blinding succession. Freeza launched a viscious onslaught, reveling in the domination of his last legitimate foe, and each strike Gohan took shattering bone and pulling away energy at a horrendous pace. Gohan tried with all his might to stop the onslaught: every counter, every maneuver, every trick he could think of, but to no avail. He was overwhelmed, and at the mercy of the merciless.

* * *

Trunks felt raging boiling in his blood, but forcibly suppressed it as best he could. "It's time. Jump in. On my mark!" He finally ordered.

"We don't take orders from you." Hammur responded flatly, as the two exchanged hard looks with one another.

"What about this don't you get?" Trunks asked, "That was Gohan's best shot, and now he's dead in the water. Me and Goten are overpowered, Piccolo's dead, Uub can barely stand up, you're all the help we've got! You call yourselves warriors, act like it!"

"What don't you get?" Nein responded, speaking with more fervor than he had ever mustered in his life. "Freeza's so strong I can't measure him. If the fight hadn't turned against you, I wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. I can't even track his movements with my eyes. We're useless here unless you make us an opening!"

Trunks started to argue, started to scream, started to blast the two into nothingness – but refrained. After a long moment, he breathed deeply, settled his nerves, and turned away from the pair before speaking one last time.

"Then we'll make one."

* * *

Freeza finally tired of the game of midair pinball and gave Gohan one last thrashing from his tail before allowing him to continue to the ground unmolested. Gohan crashed and cratered into the hard rock below, bloodied and beaten and barely clinging to consciousness. As Freeza touched down gingerly some twenty yards away, the Earthling tried to rise to his feet, but found his left femur was shattered, the pain completely masked by adrenaline.

Gohan tried to crawl onto his knees, but found his damage much more extensive than his leg. He managed to force his back again a small boulder, and rested himself there, jamming his left shoulder back into socket as Freeza strolled toward him nonchalantly. Gohan spit a cup's worth of blood from his mouth to clear his breathing, and watched the tyrant closed the distance between them.

* * *

With the pulsating energy finally cleared from the sky, the storm clouds reformed and began to drizzle rain again. Goten had managed to close the distance between himself and the battle to a half mile, and was watching intently, waiting for the best moment to strike, his eyes peering out over the top of a trench created in some blast. He was enraged, ready to burst at a moment's notice, but he held his ground, biding his time, a small Kienzan already forming in his hand.

Goten's eyes never wavered, but his right ear perked slightly as Trunks flashed into the trench alongside him.

"What's your plan?" Trunks asked, as he, too, fixated his eyes on the Acrosian.

"This." Goten replied, raising his fledgling Kienzan slightly. "As soon as I see an opening, I'm gonna power up and throw it. If I'm lucky, maybe it'll take his head off."

"I doubt it - even if it hits." Trunks replied curtly. "And from this distance - he'll be on top of us before that disc ever reaches him."

"Well what should I do?!" Goten snarled back, "My brother's dying out there alone and I'm out of ideas!"

"I've got one." Trunks said flatly. Goten's eyes stayed set, but a smirk crept onto his face, and after a brief moment of thinking, he allowed the attack in his hand to fade away.

"Good thing you didn't get pass me up in the Time Chamber." Goten replied.

"Moron." Trunks replied, genuinely irritated as he took a step away from the trench's edge, sweeping rocks from beneath his feet to level the ground as he did. "Why do you think I came out so soon? Now do you remember how or don't you?"

Goten's eyes widened slightly at the sudden realization, but he wasted no time, and began to measure the distance to his counterpart, clearing the ground around him as he did.

Finally satisfied that his path was clear, Goten took a long, deep breath replied. "I remember. Piccolo drilled it into my head. I still have dreams about it…"

"Me too." Trunks said, and the two wordlessly struck their mirrored poses.

* * *

Freeza stopped a foot or so short of Gohan's broken body and looked down on him, the rain settling all around them. "Your father once looked down at me, like this." He said, as Gohan coughed lightly. "So did you, if I remember correctly.

"I offered quite a bit more resistance than you, I'd say, but I suppose when a foe comes into this kind of power it's all moot, sooner or later." Freeza knelt down and placed a finger on the Earthling's heart, and Gohan grabbed his wrist, but was unable to move it away.

Gohan searched desperately for Goten and Trunks, but could find nothing between his throbbing head and Freeza's overwhelming power. And so he resolved himself to draw Freeza's focus, and to die.

The tip of the Acrosian's finger began to glow red as Gohan gritted his teeth and stared hard into Freeza's eyes. "Whatever consolation it is, you're better than he ever was." Freeza said, "But in the end, you're the same filthy, Saiyan scum. I'll not make the same mistake."

"Shut up and do it." Gohan growled back, tightening his grip on Freeza's wrist as best he could. Freeza instinctively recoiled, but Gohan found the strength to hold him in place.

"Look me in the eye, and do it!" He ordered, his raspy voice cutting through the rain.

Freeza shook his arm free and stood up, uncharacteristically shaken, with the chill of the Saiyan's voice running down his spine. He had executed innumerable men before, but here, in his greatest moment, he was dumbstruck. Gohan was no threat to him now, moments before he had resolved to erase him from living memory, but something in the Saiyan's eyes had shaken him, and now he stood three paces away, his glowing finger still outstretched, pointing at the prone Saiyan but shaking like a pistol in a boy's hand.

"FUUU-SION! _HAAAAAA!"_

Freeza snapped out of his trance and jerked his head forward in time to see a glowing orb bellowing toward his skull. The Acrosian jerked himself to the side, and allowed the blast to pass harmlessly across his face, close enough for him to feel the heat. When he turned his head again, he saw a young man stalking toward him, a look of stiff resolve on his face. The man was roughly as tall as Gohan, but carried slightly more mass, and had strange dark and purple hair colored hair that stood up like a flame. He wore large rounded shoulder pads, and as he approached, Gohan's hardened face relaxed slightly into a weakened smile.

Fifteen yards away, the man stopped and squared to Freeza, who did likewise. With a harsh grunt his multicolored hair turned solid gold. "This war's not over." He said gruffly, in a deep, echoing voice.

A mixture of fear and excitement coarsed through Freeza's veins. These were the eyes he remembered - the eyes of a Super Saiyan in his element. The boys' eyes had been wild and desperate, resembling these in aesthetics alone; Gohan's were more similar, but dark, and hard, and cold. But these eyes, he remembered - deep green, calm, and burning not with desperation, but with life. He had spent an afterlife awaiting these eyes, and here they were, with a worthy challenger to wield them. Freeza locked his eyes with the new man's, and felt himself again.

"I suppose not." Freeza finally replied, an evil smirk crawling onto his face as his golden flesh crawled with power and excitement. "And war must have casualties."

Gotenks lurched like a bolt of lightning, but was far too late. Freeza never looked back into Gohan's dark eyes, but stayed locked with Gotenks', the smile on his face growing with each passing moment. He threw his arm out to the side, his finger still outstretched, and fired a thin ray beam of light.

The beam pierced the rain and the earth alike, and somewhere in between, Gohan's heart. Son Gohan's head drooped back against the stone, and the light that had stunned the greatest tyrant the universe had ever known, finally left his eyes.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Attrition

Gotenks had set his path for Gohan's body, prepared to dive in front of the beam and give himself for his brother, if only he had possessed the speed. Time crept before his eyes as he lurched no detail escaping him as Freeza's beam passed him, pierced Gohan's heart like a needle through cloth, and continued on into the Earth's foundation, where it caused a tremor as it shattered the rock below.

Gotenks never wavered. Without hesitation, he arced his path and strained his muscles, sparking lightning across his form as he did. Gohan's head had scarcely met the stone when Gotenks's fist, freshly aglow with blue energy, met Freeza's unsuspecting jaw, sending him sprawling backward as it did.

Freeza managed to flip over backward and regain his feet, but no sooner had he touched the earth than Gotenks met him in a furious assault of wild swings, screaming all the while, and lighting sparking off his body. Freeza attempted to counter, but he lacked either momentum or leverage, and felt his body slowing ever so slightly. It was all he could do to curb the damage as he weathered the onslaught.

Gotenks's eyes burned as he pushed forward, fighting as much on raw emotion as any technical skill. Still, the effort was exhausting, and he could feel Freeza slipping from his grasp. Still, he pushed forward with all his might, until he could feel his muscles burning and knew he could push no more – and then he fired.

Freeza was finally readying a counterpunch when Gotenks suddenly stopped, thrust him away, puffed his cheeks, and blew a steady white stream out over his head, forming a wide sheet in the air. Confused, but unwilling to lose an opportunity to strike his vulverable opponent, the Acrosian fired forward, pulling his arm back in preparation for a cross-slash at the Saiyan's throat.

As the sheet enveloped Freeza, he would've sworn it bore a smiling face, but he slashed through nonetheless. His attempt came up empty, as Gotenks had disappeared from sight, and the sheet seemed to cackle as it tightened, before fully enveloping his body, and exploding.

Gotenks hit the ground on a knee, panting for air, and allowed his golden hair to vanish as he surveyed the fuming cloud in the sky above him.

"Well, it worked once." He said aloud as he shook his head, no one nearly close enough to hear him.

* * *

Mr. Popo, alone atop his carpet, flashed in just behind Krillin, who had crawled on his stomach atop a dirt knoll to gain a vantage point of the battle. "Krillin!" he burst, "Is it time? Dende's ready!"

"They're hidden, right?" Krillin asked over his shoulder.

"Yes! Bulma managed to patch 17 up a bit, and now they're both deep inside a-"

"Don't tell me!" Krillin barked, "Don't even say it out loud! No, not yet. We only get one shot with the Dragon Balls, and too many wishes to make already. We're not using them unless they're the only choice we've got left, and right now Gotenks is still winning. But...stay close."

* * *

Freeza hit the ground in a smoldering ball of fire, but managed to extinguish himself with a quick roll through the rain-soaked earth. He stood back up, his flesh still burning harshly, and spiked his power as much to rid himself of debris as to intimidate his opponent.

Gotenks stood upright again and faced his opponent. The two held their position for a moment, each sizing the other up. Both were breathing deeply, and Gotenks could sense Freeza's power shaking, either out of fatigue or fury, or some combination of the two.

"He's strong, but he's getting tired…" the Saiyan thought to himself as he panted heavily. "If I can just wear him down before my time runs out…"

"Don't get cocky." Freeza hissed, breaking Gotenks's concentration, "You may have caught me off guard, but you're no more impressive than the last fool was. You see how he fared, don't you? You can't compete with my new power."

"Mock my brother while you can, you're going to die here." Gotenks replied flatly. "Right here, in the mud, by my hands."

"Your brother?" Freeza replied inquisitively, regaining his confidence as he did. "So, you're Goku's boy, then?"

"I am." Gotenks replied, as he began to gather his energy again, anticipating a brief conversation.

"I see." Freeza replied, creeping his power higher as well. "Tell me, you're the one I met here on Earth all those years ago, aren't you? You've changed your look a bit, but it must be you."

"No, not really." Gotenks replied, before flexing his arm and charging lighting across his body again. "He's only a part of me."

"Hm." Was the only answer Freeza gave, as he furrowed his brow low and the rubble beneath his feat erupted.

The two charged forward and threw simultaneous haymakers from their right fists at the other's jaw. They locked eyes for a millisecond that seemed to slow down time as they brought their blows forward, before breaking contact to put their full momentum behind their swings.

Gotenks's fist missed Freeza by a hair's breadth, as the Acrosian's blow hit its mark cleanly on the Saiyan's jaw, sending Gotenks rocketing westward with and "Oof."

Gotenks managed to recover enough to turn himself upright, but no sooner had he found his balance than he found himself in the throes of a crimson firestorm. The Saiyan managed to deflect enough beams to avoid disaster, but the attack proved to be little more than a distraction, as Freeza flashed directly in front of Gotenks and delivered a devastating cross-chop into his throat before he could as much as raise his arms to defend himself.

Seeing his opponent reeling, Freeza grinned and pressed forward, the smell of final victory igniting his adrenaline. The Acrosian began to pound the young Earthling with incomparable speed, all five of his limbs blurring so rapidly even Gotenks was at a loss for where to block. And so the punishment set in, Gotenks trying for all his might to defend himself, but to no avail, as Freeza forced his furious pace on harder with each landing blow, intent to break Gotenks just as he had done to Gohan only minutes before.

* * *

"Uh oh. Popo, get ready." Krillin said, trying for all he was worth to follow the onslaught above him.

"Is it time?!" Mr. Popo asked excitedly.

"Yeah…go get Dende to summon Shenron." The short warrior replied. "But don't make any wishes. Wake him up and then come straight back here. Understand?"

"But…why? What are we waiting for?" Popo asked.

Never looking away from the battle in the sky, Krillin quietly responded. "We're not making our move until those two can't fight back anymore."

Mr. Popo stared at Krillin in shocked confusion, but after a moment, stiffened his lip, climbed aboard his carpet, and disappeared.

"Come on kid…" Krillin whispered, all the while forcing his trembling body to remain hidden.

* * *

As the sky darkened even deeper overhead, Gotenks finally gave up on defending himself and gambled wildly, performing a pirouette in the air as he hurled a blind roundhouse kick toward where he thought Freeza's head might be.

The blow missed badly, but did succeed in momentarily brushing his attacker away. Battered as he was, the young Saiyan didn't miss the opening. Freeza rushed forth to continue to the onslaught, only to be caught head on by a sudden burst of light emitting from Gotenks's mouth as he screamed.

Gotenks cracked a smile as a cloud of smoke encompassed his foe, but quickly lost it when a golden tail suddenly came whirling out of the billow, catching him across the side of the head and sending him crashing down to Earth.

Gotenks quickly climbed back to his feet as Freeza descended to Earth a few feet away and began to pace toward him. He could feel Freeza tiring, but not nearly as quickly as he was.

"Perhaps I misjudged you." Freeza taunted, "That was quite a beating I gave you, and you're already standing. I did the same to that black haired one and he never stood up again, I suppose you are a bit more impressive."

"Maybe…" Gotenks panted, almost cracking a wry smile despite the insult to his brother. "Or maybe you're just getting weaker."

Freeza started to bristle at the insult, but could sense Gotenks's energy fading, and laughed it off. "I'll tell you what;" Freeza offered. "I'll give you one shot, anything you want. Blow me away, cut me in half, anything you want. Show me how weak I am. I can't promise I won't dodge, and I'll have to kill you afterwards, of course, but it's a fair offer, don't you think? One last hurrah to save your planet, what do you say?"

"Yeah, I'll take it." Gotenks panted, almost smiling at the challenge, as he began calculating his next move as carefully as he could. Freeza stretched out his arms and backed away slowly, his palms opened up tauntingly, smiling all the while.

He could attempt to power up to his full strength and fire his Kikoho, but transforming would likely trigger a quick counterattack from Freeza, and he doubted he could muster the strength to destroy the Acrosian in one hit in his present form. He could take his shot with the Kienzan, but cocky as Freeza was, he was watching carefully, and was likely still far too fast for such an inaccurate attack to reach it's mark.

Finally, Gotenks settled on his plan, took a deep breath, and lurched.

Freeza kept his grin as he anchored into a defensive stance and prepared to take on the charging Saiyan. When Gotenks was 10 yards away, he puffed his cheeks and blew, a cackling white sheet emitting from his mouth as he did.

"This again?" The Acrosian asked, genuinely disappointed, as he threw out his hand and fired a wide, shielding blast across the front of his body. Gotenks's attack encompassed the shield and exploded with vicious force, shattering the shield and burning Freeza's hand as it did, and casting a massive cloud of smoke across the barren land as it did, erasing all visibility as it did.

Freeza recoiled in pain at the burn on his hand, momentarily losing his focus as he did. Freeza gritted his teeth and darted his eyes from side to side as he attempted to rediscover his opponent, emitting an agitated growl as he did.

A sudden spark of power caused Freeza to wheel to his right, where he was immediately forced to duck his head as two small, golden discs whirred viciously past the spot where his throat had been a fraction of a second before. It was a near miss, but was enough to give away its origin's position.

"There! Now die!" Freeza yelled as Gotenks charged forth out of the smoke, another small kienzan formed in his hand. Gotenks tried to throw the Kienzan, but was far too slow. Freeza threw forth an outstretched finger and a thin ray of light shot forth, catching Gotenks cleanly between the eyes.

Freeza smiled and started to laugh as he watched his last challenger fall to the ground at his feet, and was approaching full-on hysteria, when he suddenly caught his breath. To his utter bewilderment, the body vanished from sight and faded into the smoke.

"What?!" Freeza screamed, and rushed high into the air to clear himself of the shroud on the ground. "What is this?!"

"Gotcha."

Still hidden in the fading smoke below, Gotenks threw his hands high above and in front of his body, and clasped his fingers together, as hundreds of tiny shards of light rushed forth from the smoke and up into the sky. Confounded by the attack, Freeza dropped into a stance and attempted to bat the beams away, and largely succeeded, but more and more shards continued to cascade off the ground and into the sky until they had formed a complete ring around the Acrosian's body. Gotenk's jolted his arms, and the beads of light did likewise, and suddenly conjoined into a solid ring of golden light around Freeza's body, trapping his arms to his sides and digging into his golden flesh.

"Filthy…Saiyan…trash!" Freeza screamed as he strained against the bonds of the ring. Gotenks's arms shook with his effort as he tightened the ring, the sweat pouring off his brow causing the lighting on his body to spark amid the fading smoke. He tried to raise his power higher, but found his body at his limit, and dug his strength into the ring all the harder.

* * *

"That's our opening!" Hammur barked, and he and Nein crouched to launch themselves into the fray.

"Wait!" Gorra yelled, as he and Naken suddenly phased in behind them.

"Why?!" Hammur screamed excitedly.

"Because he can't hold him! Look!" Gorra returned, and the four stopped and looked up helplessly into the sky.

"Who cares?! We're not getting a better chance!" Hammur yelled.

"Just wait!" Nein barked, catching the attention of his comrades. "Be ready, it's almost time."

* * *

To Gotenk's horror, Gorra's words were proving true. Try as he might – and he tried with all his might – Gotenks could feel his grasp on the alien weakening. Desperate and unable to move his arms, Gotenks puffed his cheeks again and emitted a small, ghostlike figure of himself into the air above him. The ghoul shot forward with as much speed as it could carry, racing to meet Freeza before he broke free.

A slight waver in Gotenks's arms was all it took. Freeza regained leverage with his arms, flexed hard, and with a mighty roar, burst upward, shattering the ring from around his body as he did. The pain from the ring's clutches was still burning hot, however, when Gotenks's ghost broke Freeza's moment of triumph. Freeza still had his arms raised from his effort when the ghoul barreled in like a battering ram and wrapped itself around his chest, erupting on contact.

Gotenks dropped to a knee as the lighting faded from his gold-clad body, another billow of smoke now encompassing his foe in the air. Despite the advantage he might have had, he desperately needed a moment to regain his strength, and it was all he could do to keep his hair from darkening.

" _AHHHHHHHHHH!_ "

The sheer force of Freeza's shriek scattered the smoke from smoke from around his body, though strangely not the darkened clouds, as it reverberated across the newly formed wasteland.

"Enough!" he yelled, "I'll not waste any more time here! You'll die along with this filthy planet!"

Freeza threw his arm forward with a finger outstretched, but this time braced his forearm with his off hand, and his body jolted back as he fired. Gotenks sprung back to his feet and fired lighting across his body again, and he anchored down to divert the blast, raising his power as quickly as he could in the process.

Gotenks coiled himself and released, batting the beam away with both hands with all his might and sending it rocketing away into space, turning his body as he did. His moment of victory was cut short however, as he looked back over his shoulder to see a second blast rushing toward his head. Gotenks turned and dodged as best he could, missing the beam by a fraction of an inch as it exploded beneath his feet. He was unable to avoid the shock of the expolosion, however, and was knocked flat of his back some ten feet away. Immobilized and unprepared, he looked up into the sky to see a third beam bearing down on him, leaving him only enough time to grit his teeth as the beam made contact.

The beam did not make contact with his body, nor the Earth, however. An invisible rush of energy diverted it out of sight to the east, where it made contact with a distant landform over the horizon and erupted, shrouding the dim horizon in a deep red glow.

Gotenks and Freeza both turned their heads to see Okami standing boldly out in the open, his fingers still pressed together in front of his chest.

Gotenks breathed in deep heaves, but smiled as he saw Freeza do the same, his face the picture of raw fury.

"How much time do you have?" The tan warrior boomed as he calmly walked up next to Gotenks, half a head taller but leagues behind him in power, even tired as the Saiyan was.

"About as much as you, probably." Gotenks gasped. "Not as much as him, though. He's wearing out, and he's stupid, but he's still out of my league, and I'm about out of tricks."

"Then it's time you stopped holding back."

The two locked eyes and nodded, and Okami stepped back, carefully focusing Freeza in the open space between his hands in the even he try to disrupt his ally. Gotenks took one final long, deep breath, leaned forward, flexed his muscles, and screamed as he reached for every ounce of power he could muster from the core of his body. His eyes widened and his body shook, and sweat puddled in the mud below him with his effort, until he finally found his strength.

" _yeeeeaAHHHHHHHH!"_

Freeza stiffened his jaw and descended to Earth as he watched in disbelief. The Saiyan's hair enveloped his back, and his brow furrowed forward as his power rocketed upward, until it dwarfed anything he had felt from any opponent he had ever encountered.

Gotenks finally relaxed, puffed out his chest, and straightened his back as he locked eyes with the Acrosian. His brow was furrowed ferociously, but his eyes were burning with excitement as his incredible power pulsated around him, and he wore a devious smile on his face.

"I told you, Freeza." He snarled, his voice now a deep, gravely tone.

"Right here. In the mud. By my hands."


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The Dark & The Dawn

Gotenks and Freeza wasted no more time and fired forward, each doling out desperation in equal portion. Their fists clashed in the air, clapping a rush of energy across the barren landscape as the two broke into a ferocious onslaught of attacks.

In many ways, the exchange was a mutually foreign affair to the combatants. Neither was accustomed to wielding this amount of power, and neither would have ever dreamed that they would face a foe capable of matching it. Hate burned in both their eyes as they pressed their battered bodies all the harder, neither willing to give an inch.

The two stalemated in the air for a long while, 9 limbs whirring fast enough to challenge even Okami's eyes, before Gotenks's right fist finally broke through the fray, catching the Acrosian cleanly on the jaw and rendering his body momentarily stiff.

Freeza retained his consciousness, but the momentary lapse in his defense was all it took for Gotenks to gain the advantage. The Saiyan's onslaught set in, wearing Freeza's body for all it was worth with every blow.

Believing his foe to be waning, and aware of his desperate need to finish the fight quickly, Gotenks raised his fist high for a decisive blow, only to have his jaw shocked by a vicious whip of Freeza's tail. The blow itself did little damage, but momentary shock was all it took to break the Saiyan's advantage, and soon the two were in the throes of battle again, neither able to break the other's defenses.

* * *

Okami watched on in shocked fixation as the whir above him continued, only barely able to follow the fury of their assault. He watched as Freeza began to give ground again, as the long-haired Saiyan pressed forward with reckless abandon, giving no consideration to his energy output.

Okami wanted desperately to intervene; to test himself, to save his planet, to be anything other than a helpless spectator. What good was it to be the strongest Earthling to ever live, if he remained sidelined while the battle for the Earth's future raged overhead? Still he remained grounded, and did has he had been taught; he watched vigilantly, he stayed out of the way, and he stayed ready.

Far off to his right, Krillin was quietly issuing instructions to Popo, as the mob of Earthling below, all obscured by rocks and mounds of earth, kept their eyes fixated overhead.

* * *

Gotenks could feel his body quivering with every blow, but still pressed forward, his arms firing like pistons in an engine against his enemy's ever-weakening defenses. Freeza paid special attention to defending his head, so Gotenks punished his core, pounding his kidneys until he could feel the swelling beneath his fists, and poured it on all the more.

Freeza could feel his power waning and his body failing, but there was little he could do to slow the onslaught. For the first time since his battle with Goku, he was physically outmatched, and he was not responding well, pouring every ounce of his strength into weathering the onslaught rather than countering.

Gotenks began screaming as he poured it on all the more, until his muscles burned so hot he feared they might quit at any moment. Finally, he kicked Freeza away with both legs, raised his arms up high, and slammed a massive ball of energy into Freeza's exposed form as it materialized above his hands in one ferocious movement.

Freeza curled his form tightly in a fetal position, tail between his legs, before the blast arrived, and exploded on impact, sending him rocketing to the ground. Freeza cratered on impact and looked up to see a visibly exhausted Gotenks hovering above him, his limbs shaking from the effort of holding his body in the air.

Gotenks's brow furrowed as he saw Freeza begin to gingerly climb to his feet, and went to charge his energy to it's peak again, but stopped short, as though he had felt a muscle catch. In fact, his body was fine, tired but in relatively good health. His time, however, was dwindling quickly, and a sudden surge of power, he feared, might push him over the edge.

Gotenks tried as best he could to weigh his options in his limited time. Another forward charge, he reasoned, might last minutes, and with Freeza's strength, would require significant energy to be of any merit; energy he did not have to give. A heavy blast might finish the Acrosian off, but ran a significant chance of missing, or worse, devolving into a beam struggle; he could think of no faster way to drain his remaining time, and even an overzealous win could result in the destruction of the planet.

Rather than wasting valuable time with a rush, or gambling wildly with a beam, Gotenks spiked his power as best he could and screamed with primal fervor as he let loose a barrage of heavy, bone shattering blasts from either hand in the fastest pace he could muster. The blasts carried down into Freeza's crater from every angle, each one roaring with the fierceness of the last Saiyan warrior's final attack, as smoke clouded the crater with every impact, soon numbering in the hundreds as Gotenks poured on the attack in wild desperate fury, all the while screaming for all he was worth.

Gotenks finally dropped his arms, exhausted and running desperately low on time, to examine the crater, hoping against hope that he would find only a corpse when the smoke cleared away.

All the human warriors stood up straight and revealed themselves from behind their hiding places, most standing slack jawed at the display of raw power they had witnessed, and all with their muscles tensed.

Finally the smoke began to fade, revealing Freeza's form, kneeling in the mud with his arms crossed above his head, still aglow with the energy he had charged into them to shield his body. His arms and back were badly burned, revealing charred and boiled flesh in multiple places where the blows had reached home. He stared wide-eyed at the ground, badly wounded, but alive, and shook uncontrollably for a long moment before forcing himself to his feet and staring up at Gotenks.

Both warriors were nearing the ends of their ropes, and stared deep into each other's eyes for a long while. Not a word needed to be spoken for the two to understand one another; they were tired of fighting. Every heave of their chests and quiver of their muscles gave them away; whether for pride or vengeance or home or conquest, a winner had to be decided.

And so they charged; Freeza with a shriek to shatter a thousand mirrors, Gotenks with a roar to rival a hundred lions. From the earth and from the sky, the two launched with every ounce of energy they could muster, siphoning every ounce of power in their being into their fists, Gotenks's aglow with an aqua blue aura, and Freeza's with a crimson red.

They clashed.

As few moments in life do, the nanosecond that followed slowed to a crawl for the two warriors; no other eye in creation would've been able to follow it. Their right fists met cleanly in the air, inadvertently, as each had intended to slip into the other's jaw. On impact, a blinding light sprung out, momentarily clouding the landscape in flat, white nothingness, with only the two left hanging in the air.

Gotenks won the initial surge, the remnant of his awesome power fully enthralled in his blow. He pressed on, roared all the louder as he pressed his fist toward Freeza's jaw, only to see it dissolve into nothingness before his eyes as his roar of victory turned to horror.

Freeza pressed forward into Gotenks's open chin with his crimson fist still aglow, and yelled for with all his might as he aimed to finish the war with a final strike. With Gotenks on the recoil, he reached out, struck with all his might, and passed harmlessly through his target.

Gotenks split into two beings on either side of the Acrosian's blow, each one's nose separated by less than an inch from his outstretched fist. The two traded horrified looks until their vision was obscured by the passing golden streak of Freeza's frame.

* * *

"Popo, switch the first two wishes and go! Now!" Krillin yelled, to which Mr. Popo quickly, and nervously, obliged, hopping aboard his carpet and vanishing from sight the moment he landed on top of it. Krillin held his position a moment longer, but began to creep his power up, alerting his fellow humans to do likewise.

* * *

Goten and Trunks immediately sped to the ground and landed side-by-side, sparking their hair blonde and bearing harsh grimaces as they did. Freeza's momentum carried him forward a long distance before he managed to come to a halt, but finally did, and looked down at the two separated Saiyans on the ground, grinning deviously.

"Well, that was unexpected." He taunted. "I suppose I should've known; no mortal could ever match my power, and you Saiyans are so full of tricks."

Neither Goten nor Trunks moved a muscle, content to let the Acrosian waste time talking if they could, but both were fully aware of their mistake; they had miscalculated their time, overused their energy, and allowed rage to overtake their senses, if only for a moment. Now, they were preparing themselves for death, intent to expend every last bit of energy they could muster along the way.

Their time, it seemed, would be short, as Freeza began to cackle, and raise his power again.

* * *

"Now, Dende!" Popo burst, even before his carpet had fully screeched to a halt.

"Shenron, arise!" Dende screamed, jumping up from the rock he had been sitting on. The Dragon Balls began to glow, oscillating bright to dim as they did. 17 knew from one look at Popo the situation was dire, and began to scream as well.

"Dragon! Wake! Up! Now!"

Finally, their brightness steadied, and Shenron's massive green form snaked up high into the sky above them, staring the trio down imposingly as he did. After a long moment, he finally bellowed down. "What is your first wish?"

* * *

Freeza finally steadied his power, gave one last sneer, and bolted down at the two young Saiyans like a falcon onto its prey. Goten and Trunks anchored together, clenched their fists and crouched low, and fired to meet him.

As they had during their first charge, the two coordinated their rush perfectly, spiraling parallel to one another as they approached and firing in unison, Goten going high, and Trunks down low.

This time, their effort would be in vain, as Freeza effortlessly split their assault, reappeared behind them, and struck. Freeza's right elbow caught Goten in the nape of the neck at the same instant his left knee hit met Trunks in the same place. Immediately disarmed, the two crashed to the ground on top of one another, and struggled to rise to their feet, their hair returning to natural color as they did.

Freeza smiled one last time and dove again to finish the Saiyans off, so enthralled with his victory he never lifted his eyes to see the gargantuan form hurtling toward him. Midway to his target, Freeza never saw Okami until the human's fist was flush with his cheek.

Freeza froze in mid-air, his head turned some 45 degrees to the side, and looked through the corner of his eyes at the Earthling. To Okami's horror, the Acrosian hadn't budged an inch. Okami's face dropped to a look of terror a split second before Freeza's tail caught him on the side of the head, whiplashing him back to Earth where he ricocheted off the ground once before landing in an unconscious heap. After a long moment, he split back into his four original forms, their bodies stacked in contorted fashion, all unconscious and completely broken.

"Absurd." Freeza scowled, before locking eyes with the Saiyans and charging again.

"Now!" Krillin screamed, and fired up from his hiding place, the rest of the Earthling army a half step behind him, erupting from every corner of the earth around the battleground, and each making a beeline for Freeza.

The tyrant stopped in the air and put out his hands to either side to obliterate the rush, but never fired, as the humans rang out in unison:

" _SOLAR FLARE!"_

Freeza managed to close his eyes, but the light was white-hot with intensity, and seemed to burn even through his eyelids. He tried to force them open, but the light lingered in the air, clouding the world around him in nothingness and causing his ears to ring. Only a high-pitched battle cry broke through to his ears.

Freeza went lurching backward as Uub's foot centered his face, drawing fresh blood from his nose. The young human immediately dropped to the ground and panted for air, as fifteen deep blue beams merged together and caught Freeza's momentum like a leaf on the river, and carrying him over a mile into the distance.

Finally, Freeza spun away from the unified Kamehameha wave, and howled in fury. His eyes were bloodshot, only serving to exacerbate the mindless fury he wore on his face.

" _You're all going to die!_ " he shrieked, as he exploded back to the battleground.

* * *

"You're sure he said second wish first, right?" Dende asked.

"Yes! Please, Dende, hurry!" Popo returned.

"Right. Shenron!" Dende screamed. "Restore all the Earthling warriors back to full strength! Can you do that?"

"Such a wish is well within my power." Shenron returned, his eyes glowing as he spoke.

* * *

Goten and Trunks were dragging Uub off the ground when they felt their strength return, each one in utter shock as they traded looks of bewilderment. The Wolf Students, too, quickly climbed to their feet, briefly smiling at their change of fortune.

Up in the air, the humans were not smiling, however. They had been missing only a small portion of strength to begin with, and now Freeza was mere seconds away. They were firing wildly, Kienzans and Dodon's whirring through the air at a torrid pace, but none were reaching home, and were doing little to slow the Acrosian's path.

Freeza closed to within a few yards of the Earthling army when the trio burst into his path. The lighting had returned to Goten and Trunks's forms, and Uub's pink aura had burst around him again, as he fought in the middle of the two elder warriors.

The three began to push Freeza back as the humans around them spurred them on with roars of approval, but were unable to crack Freeza's defenses. The Acrosian could've passed for a golden buzz saw, as he spun like a tornado, striking and firing deadly rays of light even as he gave ground. Alone, none of the three would've lasted longer than a moment, but together, Freeza was unable to counterstrike, as each opportunity was clouded by an attack from another member.

Finally, the Acrosian broke through. Trunks leveled a hard kick for Freeza's kick, prompting the tyrant to drop low to avoid it. Trunks had been counting on Uub attacking head-on to force a block, but the child, inexperienced and unaccustomed to fighting with Trunks, had gone high, anticipating Trunks would do the opposite. The result was an unimpeded golden fist directly into Trunks's exposed abdomen, and with an "Oof," the Saiyan fell from the sky.

Trunks landed on a knee in the mud below, clutching his stomach as he did, his hair stayed golden but a mix of pain and fury shown on his face. Up above, Freeza was already capitalizing on his absence, and was pushing forward again, Goten and Uub gliding backward at a torrid pace as they fought for their lives.

Trunks composed himself and reentered the fray, but the tide had clearly turned in Freeza's favor again. Goten and Uub had avoided kill shots, but their bodies were littered with bruises and cuts and burns; periphery damage, but damage nonetheless, and their energy was beginning to waver again.

Trunks's reentry stemmed the tide momentarily, but for all their strength, and tired as Freeza was, they were fading quickly against the might of the tyrant. The humans looked on helplessly, as Freeza's power overwhelmed them again.

* * *

"What is your second wish?" Shenron boomed.

"Shenron! I wish everyone who's died on Earth since Freeza attacked except his men, were alive again!"

"Hmmmm….." Shenron hummed, before his eyes finally glowed again. "I will do what I am able."

"Alright, Popo, go ahead and take him." Dende said. "I'll be right here if anything happens."

"Yes, Dende!" Popo spat, as 17 climbed aboard his carpet, and the pair vanished into thin air.

* * *

Upa was the first on the Western Front to rise to his feet, his fellow soldiers still sitting in the mud, batting their eyes in disbelief amid the carnage of enemy soldiers around them. As they began to find their footing, he stalked over to Tagoma's body, and pried his spear from his neck.

Upa examined the bodies, living and dead alike, for a long while, but could find no sign of the original leadership. Of the final group that challenged Tagoma, only 18 and Yajirobe rose up from among the bodies. Finally, with the army beginning to form around him, he spoke up.

"Alright." He said resolutely, "Let's go."

With that, the division burst off the ground again, in unison with their Eastern counterparts, toward the battleground.

* * *

Freeza's body was shaking with every strike, and he was now fighting at a fraction of the strength he had possessed when he first assumed his new form. He was winning, his victory becoming clearer with each passing moment as his opponents buckled beneath his awesome power, but even he was beginning to doubt his longevity. He needed to win, and needed to do so quickly.

Enraged again by his own mortality, Freeza flexed hard and charged for all he was worth in an attempt to end the war. Try as they might to hold him off, Goten, Trunks, and Uub couldn't match his power, and were soon being blown backward farther and farther with each blow they were forced to absorb.

The first to break was Goten. With Uub dodging a focused onslaught from the Acrosian, Goten had opened himself up for a fraction of a second in an attempt to bail the child out. No sooner had he realized his mistake then twin beams from Freeza's eyes caught him cleanly on the left shoulder, missing his heart by only a few inches. The beams passed cleanly through his shoulder, missing his vitals but dropping him from the sky. Goten clung to consciousness on the ground, and even managed to maintain his golden aura, but was unable to rise to his feet.

Next was Trunks. Attempting to capitalize on the distraction of Goten's felling, Trunks had risen high to gain a vantage point, and focused Freeza in his palms, preparing to trap him in a hole with his Kikoho. No sooner had he took aim, however, then Freeza burst away, as if he were anticipating the attack, and circled high into the air next to Trunks.

Now too far away for Uub to offer aid, Trunks managed to defend himself for only a moment before Freeza's knee met his rib cage, breaking three along his left side and doubling him over in pain. A viscous clubbed hand to the back of his head sent him crashing back to Earth, where he, too, was unable to rise above his knees.

Finally, Freeza turned his attention to Uub, the humans bursting back into action with wild, desperate beams as he did. The tyrant paid little attention to these, however, and he zeroed in on the child and began another vicious assault.

Uub took a devastating punch to his kidney, then a tail whip to the head, but managed to stay in the air, fighting for all he was worth against the overwhelming force. Freeza's eyes burned wild with fury as he raised his hands high overhead and brought them crashing down on top of the child. Uub managed to cover his head, but the blow was sufficient to crater him deep into the Earth below.

Freeza held for a brief moment to catch his breath, before powering up again to finish off his wounded foes.

Nearly a hundred yards apart, and in vastly different tones, both Goten and Trunks managed to eek out the same word.

"Gohan…"

Alive and enraged, Gohan sprung from behind the Acrosian and leveled a devastating roundhouse kick into the side of his head, knocking him wildly off balance before the tyrant even became aware he had returned. The Saiyan launched into a boxing combination while Freeza reeled from the shock of the blow, landing three bone-rattling blows to the golden warrior's abdomen, before Freeza finally recovered and began to counter.

The two hung in the air for what seemed like minutes, locked in a stalemate, just as they had in their first battle. Freeza, oceans stronger but nearing his wit's end, and Gohan, fighting with the ferocity of a man getting both a second chance at life and the weight of the world on his shoulders, but pushing himself to his absolute limit just to match his opponent's incredible strength.

The battle was furious, but with no one to offer him aid, and no way to buy them time, Gohan was on an island. Try as he might, Gohan was doing well to stay alive, and soon, Freeza began pushing him backwards.

* * *

Popo and 17 flashed onto the battlefield alongside Krillin, still looking on helplessly as Gohan and Freeza fought desperately, the rain settling in around them again.

"How bad is it?" 17 asked, still lacking any ability to sense energy.

Krillin was quiet for a long moment before he finally answered. "He won't last much longer. We need the others."

"Well where are they?!" 17 barked. "We wished all of them back!"

"Shenron can't make anyone come back who doesn't want to. Maybe…" Krillin paused for a long moment, fear and anger and confusion clouding his mind.

"What, they've given up on us?!" The Cyborg yelled.

"I…I don't know."

* * *

Gohan was fighting with everything he had, but though he could feel Freeza slipping, his own body was failing even faster. Even haphazard strikes from the Acrosian were deadly, and it was all Gohan could do to weather the heavier ones. To make matters worse, his counterpunches were landing with relative frequency, but their damage was minimal. Freeza defenses were unmatched, and there was little he could to do overcome them.

Finally, Gohan tired and Freeza landed a stiff jab to his jaw, momentarily stunning the Saiyan. The gold tyrant pressed forward to capitalize, but Gohan managed to coil his feet under him and plant them firmly in the Acrosian's gut, momentarily taking the wind out of him and creating space between the two in a recovery no other Earthling could have dreamed of pulling off.

The two hung there for the better part of a minute, gasping for air and staring one another down. Goten, Trunks, and Uub, finally having managed to climb back to their feet, floated up into the air. Their wounds were glaring, but they did their best to look imposing as they hung behind Gohan, prepared to offer whatever they had left. Finally, Freeza spoke up.

"Fine. Enough."

"What?" Gohan asked, instinctively dropping into a defensive stance.

"Enough." Freeza repeated. "My army is long gone, my fleet most likely destroyed, and now you Earthlings are coming back from the dead. Perhaps I could still defeat you, but to what end? I've attained power here even I never dreamed possible, yet it seems no matter how long we fight, all it brings is more suffering for both of us.

"I'll offer you a truce; you want me off your planet, fine, I'll go. Let me gather a scouter off one of my men to signal a ship, and I'll leave your pathetic rock, never to return."

Gohan froze in the air, never leaving his stance. He knew Freeza; every fiber of his being screamed that it was a trap. Then he examined his alternative; his body was wearing thin again, his strongest allies were half-beaten and far away from being able to fuse. Even 17 had exposed wires. What chance did they have?

Without replying, Gohan dropped to the ground below, as all those in the air followed suit, leaving only Freeza alone in the sky. Gohan walked a few feet away from the crowd, took a scouter off a fallen soldier's prone body, and flicked it into the sky above. Freeza caught it, pressed a button, and dropped it back to Earth.

"As promised, Saiyan." Freeza said, his devious sneer returning to his face as he floated high into the sky, until he was almost out of sight. "My ship will be here in under an hour. I'll never return to this planet again."

Gohan felt Freeza's power beginning to boil again, when it dawned on him. "Everyone fire! Now!"

"What?" Krillin asked, a momentary pause lingering among the Earth's forces as Gohan alone fired a vicious Kamehameha up at Freeza's body. At the last second Freeza phased out of sight, dodged the blast, and disappeared high into the sky above behind the clouds.

"What's going on?!" Uub yelled, when the Earthlings suddenly felt Freeza's power wash over them.

"What is he…" Goten gasped.

* * *

Gohan trailed Freeza high up into the sky, well out of sight of the others. By the time he arrived, he was too late.

Freeza's form had swollen to nearly thrice its original size, his muscles now bulging out around his form. Gohan screamed and fired a Masenko with all his might, but Freeza stuck out a hand and blocked it easily.

The Saiyan charged, and landed a few quick blows to the Acrosian's gut, but Freeza soon gained the advantage and landed a viscous overhand blow to his temple, sending him rocketing back to the ground.

The others watched as Gohan came racing back through the clouds and ran to catch him, but the Saiyan steadied himself some 20 feet above the ground without their help. He was preparing to charge again, when Freeza reappeared at the edge of their sight of his own accord, and Gohan held there in the air between the Acrosian and the Earth.

"Everyone on me!" he screamed, and this time, the Earthlings burst into action, gathering tightly around him.

Freeza was sweating profusely and breathing laboriously, his power, now more mammoth than ever before, was teetering precariously, and Gohan doubted he could even control it. In his hand floated a small, crimson orb.

"I said I'd leave your planet, Saiyan, and I intend to!" The Acrosian screamed between deep, heaving breaths. "I've had enough of your tricks! I won't play any more of your games! This planet is yours now, right down to the last speck of dust!"

"No…" Gohan gasped. Freeza raised his arms high, and in an instant, his tiny orb had blotted out the sky, identical to Buu's in every way but color and intensity, and magnitudes higher in both breadth and power.

Gohan threw two heavy blasts at Freeza and charged him at full speed, but to no avail. His blasts were pulled into the massive ball's gravity, and with a painful shriek, Freeza brought down his arms, levying his final attack at the Earth.

Gohan froze in the air and stared at the orb for a long while, his eyes awash with the sheer mass of it. It stretched as far as he could see in every direction, shimmering and boiling as it slowly closed in on the Earth. Awestruck and helpless, Gohan's trance was only broken when two beams – one blue, one golden – rushed past him on either side.

Down on the ground Goten and Trunks had finally managed to set their feet and reignite the lighting around their bodies, and were now firing for all they were worth into the heart of the comet. Both had their palms to together and extended; Goten's perpendicular to his body, Trunks's parallel.

Soon Uub, Krillin, 17, the Wolf Students, and all the other humans had joined them, screaming wildly with the effort. Gohan dropped back to Earth between the two fellow Saiyans, dropped his hand to his hips, and joined in.

" _KAMEHAMEHA!_ "

For the first time, Freeza felt a bit of resistance from the Earthlings. He could scarcely make out their forms through the light of his orb, but was far more concerned with his own strength failing than he was of any power they might gather. He pressed forward all the harder, intent to swallow them whole if need be.

To Gohan's dismay, his blast only served to slow the orb's progress, as it continued an impeded but steady progression toward the Earth, the light from its blast beginning to burn his eyes as he stared into it.

Suddenly, a chorus of battle cries erupted on either side of the Saiyans, causing everyone to turn their heads excitedly as the newly revived Eastern and Western fronts reached their marks and joined in the struggle. Hot on their heels was Videl, her post abandoned, who landed directly in front of Gohan and fired a Kamehameha of her own.

In terms of power, only 18, now side-by-side with Krillin, made any significant contribution, but the presence of the unified army gave the warriors new hope, and they charged again with renewed vigor.

Freeza gritted his teeth and charged again, as his blast slowed, but continued its progress, now only a few hundred feet from the Earth's crust.

"We need more…" Gohan was grunting, but to little avail. Everyone around him was pouring all they had into the defense, most of all Goten, Trunks, and Uub, all still badly beaten from their last battle.

" _Now! RrrrAHHHHH!"_

Another roar broke out, this time from behind the group, more ferocious than ever, that once again demanded attention. Gohan, Uub, and Goten took their eyes off the orb long enough to see the entirety of the remaining Earthling casualties firing defiantly up into Freeza's comet. At their head stood Piccolo, Tien at his right hip, Yamcha and a massively out of proportion Roshi at his left, Chiaotzu, Shen, and Tao at their flanks, and all sporting golden halos above their heads.

Trunks, too, turned to see Tien, his hands raised up high, triangulating the comet. For a brief second, he thought he had caught his gaze, but snapped back to reality before he could be sure. He swallowed hard, turned his head back to the orb, and roared again.

As their charge hit home, the orb momentarily hung in the air, forcing Freeza to scream in effort as he pressed his ball again toward the Earth. He was wearing out quickly now, his arms shaking with the effort, and he held nothing back as he pressed the attack for all he was worth.

"Goten…" Gohan managed to grunt out, causing his brother to turn his head enough to see him through the corner of his eye. "We still need more!...I'm tapped out, you've gotta find it or it's all over! We can't hold out like this!"

Goten was shaking wildly with exhaustion, and turned to his brother to tell him so, only to think better of it. The young Saiyan continued to fire as best he could, but looked around at the faces of his fellow warriors; husbands and wives, old men and children, every form man took surrounding him, and every one looking like they might fail at any moment. Back behind him he saw a squad of men literally fighting from the grave, but clearly falling short.

He looked to his left; Videl had dropped to a knee in exhausted weakness, but continued to pour in whatever she could muster, the picture of human limitation. Gohan stood tall beside her, even his enormous strength failing now, his face bearing the strain of the world he was about to fail. Uub stood back at his hip, his pink aura still pulsating around him, but his tiny body clearly unable to stand the strain much longer, a boy thrust into a war no man could've been prepared for. And opposite them all stood Trunks, roaring as ferociously as ever, his broken body ablaze with fury, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge their situation. They were dying, but Trunks fought as though the battle was theirs at any moment.

To his surprise, it was the image of Trunks that ignited him. Not the army of innocent men who hadn't known what they'd signed up for; not the dead men fighting for the world of the living; not the poor child bearing a burden he'd never asked for nor deserved; not even his own brother, struggling desperately to be the hero the world demanded he be. Trunks, who had mocked them, threatened them, fought them, and abandoned them all, stood there now, staring the death in the face, and refusing to flinch.

And so, Goten reasoned, if these people were so unwilling to yield, if even Trunks had come so passionately to their side, and all they asked of him was to be their hero, there was only one answer he could give them:

"I will."

Goten screamed with primal fury as his golden hair lurched down his back, and with a pulsating jolt, his beam doubled in size, and careened up toward Freeza's where it stalemated the blast.

"No!" Freeza screamed and jolted his arms wildly as they struggled. The blast receded and proceeded, back and forth in a precarious tilt, for a long moment.

And then continued downward again.

Despite his bets efforts, Goten could only slow the inevitable. The Son brothers stood side-by-side, firing for all they were worth into the teeth of the blast, surrounded by the beams of their inferior allies, but against such a force, there was simply nothing they could do. They needed more power, or more time, but had the means to reach neither.

Goten's eyes widened slightly at the horror of the realization, but Trunks's only narrowed. He was no man's second; his master had been, perhaps even his father had been, but here, in his final moment, he did not intend to die a nameless combatant beside the two great Sons. Trunks glanced at Goten for a brief moment, felt the tenor of his power, and matched it.

"Oh, no you don't!" he screamed half-mockingly, as he felt his body fall into sync with Goten's, new power boiling beneath the surface of his flesh. "Not this time!" He took a deep, heaving breath, and released.

With a mighty roar Trunks's hair, too, erupted down his back, long enough to scrape the mud behind him, as his blast, too, erupted upward into the comet. Sensing this would be their final push, the combatants all pressed their power to their limits, and fired away.

This time, Freeza's orb not only stopped, but turned, and began crawling back toward its source. Freeza jolted his muscles time and time again, and very nearly turned it, but the combined force of the Earthlings was too much. Slowly but surely, the comet was reaching back up toward him, threatening to swallow him whole.

With a shriek of mixed fury and fear, Freeza spiked his power one last time, and dove down into the teeth of the comet, planting his shoulder against it and driving for all he was worth toward the Earth.

There he struggled for the better part of a minute – and finally succeeded.

Less than a football field's length above the Earth, the orb turned again, and began to creep toward the planet below.

"Hold him!" Gohan yelled above the fray, "He's desperate, I'm gonna drive it back into him! Just hold on and we'll win!"

With that, Gohan fired up and into the comet and drove his shoulder into the beam opposite Freeza, forcing the comet to stalemate on impact. There they hung, the two strongest warriors in the world, neither able to break the other's rush.

"He's desperate..." Despite his incredible effort – or maybe because of it, in some sort of delirious haze – Trunks could not stop hearing that phrase in his head. "He's desperate."

"Idiot!" Trunks finally screamed up into the sky, to the utter confusion of all those within earshot. "He's gonna set it off! Get out of there!"

"What!?" Goten screamed, but Gohan was far too far away for Trunks to be heard.

"Freeza's gonna set it off!" Trunks screamed back, "Look at that thing, it's already close enough to take out the whole planet!"

"I'm getting him out of there!" Goten screamed, and exploded off the ground after his brother.

"No! Goten!"

Trunks looked on in horror as Goten pulled his beam from the crowd and gave chase, as, in his absence, the orb began to crawl toward Earth again.

Desperate and out of time, Trunks thought through his options in an instant. The momentum was against them now, and they might not be able to turn it again. Even if they could, an explosion aimed at the Earth from this distance would be more than enough to destroy the planet on impact.

* * *

Goten met the blast and planted his shoulder alongside Gohan's, momentarily halting the comet's momentum again, now some 70 yards above the Earth. "Gohan!" He yelled, "We've gotta get out of here! Freeza's gonna blow it up!"

"What?!" Gohan yelled, "If I leave now he'll drive it _into_ the Earth! You get out of here!"

Freeza measured the distance between the blast and the Earth, and decided to make his gamble. With his left shoulder planted against the orb, he raised his right hand high into the air, and began gathering what tiny remnants of energy he had left. It was slow work, but soon, his palm was filling up with white, spiraling energy.

* * *

Out of ideas, Trunks dropped his beam, floated up into the air between the orb and the Earth, and took a deep breath. He took a long look at Gohan and Goten, still pressed up tightly against the orb, and for a moment, he hesitated.

* * *

"I said _GO!_ " Gohan yelled, and before Goten could react, Gohan had taken his free hand, grabbed him by the neck, and hurtled him back to Earth. Goten hit the ground on all fours, shocked but unharmed, and fired his beam back up against the orb.

* * *

With Goten gone, Trunks didn't hesitate a moment longer. He took aim, high and in the center of the blast, where he thought he stood the best chance of directing the explosion, raised his right palm, and fired.

" _BIG BANG ATTACK!_ "

Trunk's blast momentarily broke the sound barrier, like a fighter jet roaring over a stadium. Freeza and Gohan shifted their eyes to see what had happened, and the Earthlings relaxed their attacks as it made impact.

The ball hit the comet at incredible speed, but was immediately absorbed, like a bubble integrating another, only an unsettled grumble revealing the attack had not, in fact, been negated.

"GET DOWN!" Piccolo screamed, as he shot into the air between the humans and the orb, casting a wide shield as he did. The Earthlings below turned and ran for cover as best they could, but soon realized the futility of their efforts, dove into the mud, and covered their heads.

 _WoooooAAAAASSSSHHHH_

Freeza's comet ignited in a blaze of light as Trunks's blast detonated inside it. Gohan was immediately launched back to Earth in the violent explosion of energy, and Freeza, up above, where the worst of the eruption had gone, was rocketed high and away into the atmosphere.

In a blinding display of red-and-white glory, the bulk of the comet finally gave way, erupting as far as the eye could see on every horizon. Soon, the comet began spewing rocket-like bulbs in every direction, the bulk of them traveling up against the Earth's atmosphere, where they burned out, or continued on into space. Some, however, ran parallel to the Earth, cascading down miles away from the point of impact, and crashing down toward the Earth's crust. All the while, the roar of a thousand jet engines resounded across the barren land.

Trunks, still hanging in the air, raced furiously to shoot the strays down, but to no avail. They were too many in number, and too wide in trajectory, and soon, the plates below the battlefield began to tremor and schism.

* * *

"Popo!" Krillin screamed, his hands still covering his head. After nearly a dozen screams, Popo appeared on his carpet, his hands above his head as well. Krillin wasted no more time in making his demands. "Now! Go make the wish!"

Popo sped away, as a strand of the comet pierced the land he had hovered above a split-second before.

* * *

Finally, Trunks, too, gave up on the fight with the stray beams and dove down to seek safety on the earth, crashing to the ground in a violent, desperate dive. With one final bang – and a loud, ringing hiss – the comet finally gave its final breath, shrouding the world around them in an ocean of smoke and noise. The Earthlings could feel the earth cracking beneath their forms, and soon, red-hot beams of molten-hot core began to form inside the creases, racing up to the surface as the Earth gave way.

* * *

"Now, Dende!" Popo screamed, the Earth tremoring precariously beneath the Guardian's feet as well.

"Shenron!" Dende screamed, his voice pitched in terror, "I wish the Earth was restored, like it was before the battle! Heal the Earth!"

"Errr…." Shenron responded, contemplative, but clearly frustrated. "Do you know what you ask?"

After a long moment, the dragon continued.

"Very well. The Earth will be restored. Now, I rest."

With that, Shenron disappeared. The Dragon Balls, floated high into the air, fired away in every direction, and disappeared.

* * *

The smoke had finally settled on the battlefield below when Trunks dared to crack open his eyes again. His ears were ringing loudly, as though a flash grenade had been thrown into his face, and he was badly disoriented, like a drunk suddenly waking up in a crowd. His hair drooped low across his face, it's purple hue having fully returned.

The Earth's quaking had come to a halt, and through the smoke, the clouds overhead were beginning to form up again, bringing a slight drizzle, growing gradually by the moment and forcing the smoke to part ways, clearing his vision slightly.

All around him, he could see the bodies of the Earthling army. The murmurs of energy they gave off told him they were alive, though clearly exhausted, and likely even more disoriented than himself. He forced himself to his feet, wobbling wildly, where he found in a painful shock that his right femur had been cracked somewhere in the chaos of the explosion.

Trunks began to hobble along, his senses keen for any sense of life. He looked far off to his left and found Gohan completely unconscious, his body shattered against a mound of mud he had apparently dug up as he bore a trench in the earth during his crash landing. Trunks was surprised to find he was still alive, though only barely. In his daze, he took neither pleasure nor grievance in his discovery.

Behind him, deep in a crater, were the prone bodies of the resurrected warriors, apparently the recipients of a direct shot from one of the beams. If not for Piccolo's shield, and their newly durable bodies, he doubted they would've survived.

Off to his right he made out Uub's shape. The boy had managed to crawl to his hands and knees, but appeared severely concussed, and began vomiting uncontrollably into the mud, the effort seemingly causing great strain on his body.

Up ahead, Trunks found two final sources of energy. One was Goten, off to his right, more or less mirroring his own condition. He was on his feet, but dark-headed and hobbling badly, his naked torso revealing a harsh burn across his left side, which he clutched as best he could with his right hand. Goten was hobbling laboriously back toward the crowd, likely to find his brother, or Uub, or Krillin, but Trunks was drawn farther north, to the final energy source.

Less than a hundred yards away, the young Saiyan found him. Flat of his back and breathing in short, quick bursts, Freeza lay dying, his body staid in its final form, but his flesh snow-white once again. Trunks almost managed to crack a smile as he limped toward him, the rain overhead picking up momentum as he made his way.

* * *

Goten, satisfied that Uub and Krillin would survive, crawled over to Gohan, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shook him as he called his name. Some combination of his efforts and the rain on his face caused Gohan to crack open his eyes, and, now convinced his brother would live as well, Goten looked back over his shoulder at Trunks, a hundred yards.

* * *

Trunks reached Freeza and stood over him for half a minute, staring coldly down, the smile he had borne upon finding him now completely gone. The Acrosian, broken and burned and devoid of will, barely cracked his eyes to return the gaze.

Trunks reached down and grabbed Freeza by the throat, placed all his weight on his left leg, and lifted the Acrosian off the ground until they were eye-to-eye, Freeza's tail limply resting in the mud. Freeza gagged desperately, but Trunks only tightened his grip.

"K-kill…me…" Freeza finally spat out.

"Oh, I will." Trunks spat back. "Do you know who I am?"

Freeza gave no response, to which Trunks jabbed a hard left fist into his abdomen, forcing a desperate gasp for air from the former tyrant. "Let me tell you, then!" Trunks screamed into his face.

"I'm the Saiyan you met on your last trip to Earth." _BAM!_ Trunks punctuated the point with another hard punch, this one an uppercut that shattered one of Freeza's ribs. Trunks continued to bark, punctuating each point with another viscous strike.

"I'm the son of Vegeta, the prince of all Saiyans!" _CRACK_ "You killed my father!" _WHAM_ "You destroyed _his_ planet! _" WHACK_ "You enslaved my people!" _WHAM_ "You robbed me of my birthright!" _CRACK "_ You've attacked _my_ planet _twice!_ "

By now, Freeza was scarcely conscious, his entire core shattered from Trunks's assault, but still, Trunks kept up his torment.

Unable to reach the gruesome scene, Gohan only looked on resolutely, but Goten cried out through the rain. "Trunks, stop, you're torturing him! Finish him off!"

Trunks heard Goten's cries, but ignored them, and pulled Freeza's head close to his. "Now listen closely." he hissed, his voice barely audible above the rain. "You're the first of many wrongs I'm going to make right. I've killed you in one life, now I'm killing you in this one." Trunks threw another harsh punch, but flattened his hand, piercing Freeza's flesh and driving his hand inside Freeza's stomach as he did. The Acrosian's eyes widened, and when he coughed, blood shot out from his mouth.

Trunks pulled Freeza even closer, until he was whispering in his ear, and continued.

"And you better pray I don't find my way to hell. 'Cause if I do, I'm coming for you there, too."

Trunks's left hand, still buried in Freeza's core ignited in golden light, and burst out in every direction. The Acrosian tried to scream, but couldn't find the strength. The light overtook him, disintegrating every piece of flesh it touched.

Trunks collapsed in a heap of satisfied exhaustion in the mud, only the lower half of Freeza's tail beside him leaving any trace of the universal emperor's existence. The tail contorted wildly of it's own accord for a long while, but finally ceased, and lay dormant in the mud, dead as its owner.

The rain came down in earnest on the battlefield, all those with enough wits to have witnessed Freeza's end in shocked silence. Trunks let the rain wash over him, exhaled in deep relief, and began to laugh.

 _Author's Note:_

 _We made it! Over eight thousand words and way too much time later, but we finished the second arc of DBG. Shockingly, next week will mark the 1-year anniversary of this thing, so for those who have stuck with me through this pitiful stretch of non-updates, thank you so, so much._

 _Alright, so let's talk about this arc for a second. It was…dark. Lots of people died, some in particularly gruesome ways, Trunks turned anti-hero at best, and the ending, while victorious for the good guys, is less than uplifting._

 _Look, this is a pretty big departure from the first arc, so I get it if it's not everybody's cup of tea, especially since the Trunks in Super right now is such a paragon figure, but it is what it is. The idea is that this stuff has always been a part of Dragon Ball, but it always gets glossed over because, hey, it's Dragon Ball. I love the original material, but this is obviously not that story, and it's my opinion that there's a lot of really good story to be told through this lens. If that's not your thing, no problem, I appreciate you giving it a shot. If it is, you've come to the right place._

 _I'd also note that a major theme in this arc is stamina/fatigue, which are only present in real Dragon Ball when it's plot relevant for them to be, i.e., very rarely, which I find unrealistic. Then again, I can use it to explain away any power gaps I might accidentally be jumping, so turnabout's fair play, I guess._

 _Now, I promised at one point that I'd give a tier-list, of where I put some of the bigger characters in this arc relative to canonical characters, and I've added some explanations to each, so hopefully this can explain any power-gap issues people have:_

 _1 – Golden Freeza (Full Power), SS3 Gotenks – No Comparison (Between SS Vegito and SSG Goku). The idea here is that they both avoided these forms as long as possible, since they're so energy expensive. You could argue otherwise, but fusion ain't won a real fight yet in canon, so I feel like this flows fine._

 _2 – Golden Freeza – SS Vegito. Since this Buu arc ended before Vegito was introduced, the idea was for this peak villain to be roughly as high as original DBZ power went._

 _3 – Final Form Freeza – Buuhan_

 _4 – Gohan, SS2 Gotenks – Ultimate Gohan_

 _5 – SS3 Goten, SS3 Trunks – SS3 Goku, minus a little bit._

 _6 – Uub – Kid Buu, minus a little bit. He's better trained, but the idea is that his body is holding him back a lot._

 _7 – SS2 Goten, SS2 Trunks – SS2 (Non-Majin) Vegeta, minus a little bit_

 _Others:_

 _Piccolo – Same as he was when he fought 17. He got stronger in the time Chamber, then he got old, and we're calling it a wash._

 _Tagoma/Shisami –Imperfect Cell, right before he absorbed 17_

 _Okami, 1st Form Freeza_ _– Semi-Perfect Cell_

 _If anybody wants others, feel free to ask, but that should give you a good idea of where I had everybody in my mind. Also, don't hold it against me if I flub some of these. I had them straight when I wrote them, but that has literally been months ago for some of these._

 _Anyway, to the future! We've got at least one arc left in this thing. Obviously this one has some loose ends to tie up, but we're gonna jump right into the next one, so be on the lookout for that. Understand that this is not going to be one of those "as long as y'all read it, I'll write it" things. A) because that is exhausting, and B) because that is how you get a bad product, and if I ever decide I wanna write that long, I'd a lot rather pick a new premise that's interesting to me and do that then just keep beating this dead horse. That said, I think this has the legs for at least one, possibly two, more, so hopefully I'll do it justice._

 _So that's it. Thanks again for sticking with me through the RoF arc, I sincerely hope you all enjoyed it. Consider this super long chapter and author's note an apology for all the weeks I missed, and also a New Years/late Christmas present for everybody. As always, comment/message/whatever, I really enjoy talking about this stuff with you guys._

 _Happy New Year,_

 _-SlotT7_


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter 32

No Rest for the Weary

Seconds passed into minutes as the downpour washed over the battlefield, the combatants alive, but shell-shocked and unable to register any worthwhile response to their situation. Finally, the rain began to fade, from a downpour, to a drizzle, to a cloudy, dark, dewey morning.

Krillin managed to turn his head out of the mud long enough to see the sun peaking over the eastern horizon, shining the first light of a new day.

"How long have we been fighting?" He asked weakly, with no one nearly close enough to hear.

Popo returned to the field with Dende aboard his carpet, and no sooner had he stopped than the young Guardian set about healing the mass of broken warriors. To his relief, most of their injuries were relatively minor; exhaustion was rampant, as were disorientation, concussions, and burns, and a few had broken bones, but none of their lives were in serious danger, save for Gohan's.

Gohan was on death's door when Dende reached him, having taken the explosion at point blank range and crashed to Earth like a rocket ship reentering the atmosphere. When Dende found him, his head was in Videl's lap, his eyes closed, and his teeth gritted tightly together in pain. There was a large chunk of flesh missing along his left side, his right arm was mangled and out of socket, and the left side of his face was burned beyond recognition.

The young Namekian wasted no time placing his hands in the center of the Saiyan's chest, and soon, his injuries began to fade away. Before long Gohan was on his feet again, only a sliver of folded flesh running from his left ear lobe to his jaw remaining to give any indication of the trauma he had endured. Dende meant to remedy this as well, but Gohan pushed him away and rose to his feet, sending the guardian on to Goten, where he set about healing his burn as well.

From there Dende made his way to the resurrected warriors, lying in a heap inside a small crater. Piccolo topped the pile, his cape in smolders, revealing his badly burned back. The rest lay below, exhausted but in relatively good shape, considering the circumstances. From there, Dende made his way across the battlefield, healing the troops as quickly as he could, and soon the army was on it's feet again. Finally, with the bulk of his work behind him, Dende began hiking the 100 yards northward, where Trunks lay panting in the mud.

* * *

On his feet again, Yamcha walked over and tapped Krillin on the shoulder, interrupting a tender embrace he was sharing with 18.

"Yamcha!" Krillin screamed, half-shocked and already in tears. The short man buried his face in Yamcha's chest as the tears began to pour down his face. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

"Geeze…it's okay, buddy…" Yamcha replied, pushing him away lightly and desperate for the awkward moment to end. 18 rolled her eyes, and set about finding Videl.

As the assurance of their victory and renewed life set in on the soldiers, the army let out a mighty battle cry that rang across the Earth for miles around. For the first time in years, they felt pure, unadulterated joy.

* * *

Dende finally reached Trunks, but suddenly found his path blocked by Gohan's outstretched arm. "Give us a minute." Gohan said quietly, to which Dende immediately obliged, backing away from the duo and waiting with Goten and Uub.

With enough breadth from the crowd to avoid eavesdropping, Gohan knelt down next to Trunks, who sat up from his place in the mud, his upper lip curled, almost instinctively, into a snarl.

"Tell me the truth." Gohan asked, calmly but authoritatively. "When you set that attack off, did you mean to kill me?"

Trunks paused for a moment before replying, but finally obliged. "I didn't have a choice. It was our only move."

"That's not what I asked you." Gohan snarled back, emitting another long, awkward silence before Trunks finally responded.

"What difference does it make?"

Gohan stood up and walked away calmly, passing Dende's group on his way back to the mass. Looking back over his shoulder, he caught the Guardian's anxious stare.

"Leave him there a while." The Saiyan ordered, and continued his march.

* * *

Dende, Uub, and Goten followed Gohan's pace back to the army, where a coagulation of survivors was steadily forming around the haloed warriors. Gohan veered far enough off course to join up with Videl, and then rejoined the growing crowd.

Piccolo, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha, stood at the center of the mob holding court while Roshi, Tao, and Shen stood a few feet away, speaking quietly to a small number of their former students.

As Gohan strode into the group, Yamcha finally managed to peel a teary-eyed Krillin away from his body, only to be swamped a moment later by a teary-eyed Hammur. Nein and Naken found Tien and Krillin, respectively, and Piccolo soon found himself eye-to-eye with Uub, smiling as he perched upon Goten's shoulders. Gohan allowed the moment to linger a bit, until Gorra strode up beside him and gave him a nervous look, returning him to the reality of the situation.

"Sorry to break the mood guys…" he said, half muttering, but bringing the hubbub to a standstill all the same. "But we've gotta know what happened. We wished everyone back; why do you all have halos?

The group held a nervous silence for a while, until Yamcha finally spoke up.

"Yeah, well…I'm done." He halfway laughed as he said it, as easily as checking out of a poker game. "Look, it's been fun, but dying three times is enough! I'm no help here and these guys were staying anyway, so I'm checking out. I think the old guys were just worn out, too."

Another long awkward silence followed until Tien spoke up, intent on providing some clarity.

"It wasn't an easy choice." He explained, "But Roshi and Chiaotzu have been brought back by Shenron before, so they were stuck either way. Leaving them alone while we came back wouldn't have been right."

"You all needed all the help you could get." Piccolo added flatly. "If we'd come back when you made the wish, we would've been just as weak as before. By using our one-day on Earth now, we got more durable bodies to reenter the fight. Whether that made the difference in stopping Freeza's momentum, I can't say, but if not for my new body, I'm sure I wouldn't have survived that blast."

Yet another pause followed as the army began to disperse into smaller group, the majority satisfied at their responses. Soon only the Sons, Krillin, Uub, and the Wolf Students remained with the haloed group, and Roshi soon sauntered over to join them.

"So you're all sure?" Krillin asked nervously.

"We're sure." Roshi replied.

"What will you do?" the short warrior asked again.

"Visit old friends, I suppose." Roshi muttered thoughtfully. "Master Mutaito will be glad to see Shen has finally made it home, I think." Krillin then began to pass his eyes from one man to the next in anticipation.

"I'll probably relax a while." Yamcha said, "Believe it or not, I'm actually pretty tough out there, but maybe I'll just play ball or something. I'm tired of fighting."

"I think I'll get back to work." Tien chimed in. "It'll be nice to have a body that doesn't wear out on me so fast. Who knows, maybe with an eternity to train, I'll finally catch up to Goku."

"Piccolo?" Gohan asked.

"I'll stay busy, I'm sure." The Namek murmured, and left it at that.

* * *

Piccolo instinctively edged himself away from the group and stood alone, cross-armed and stoic. Seeing his opportunity, Krillin broke away from the group and walked over to him, eager for a moment alone with the Namekian.

"So you're really leaving us, huh?" Krillin asked.

"Seems so." Piccolo muttered matter-of-factly.

"Don't you think we need you here?" Krillin argued meekly. "If it weren't for you, we never would've been ready for Freeza. Goten and Trunks and Uub wouldn't have been ready, Gohan might've slacked off again, we wouldn't have had a battle plan…"

"Hm!" Piccolo scoffed. "Some good that plan did."

"Well we won, didn't we?"

"We did." Piccolo smiled slightly this time. "But no thanks to me. When the chips were down, those boys finally turned into men, and they followed your lead. They'll be in good hands now."

"Huh? I didn't do anything."

"Don't play coy with me. I watched you hide those soldiers, and I saw you make those wishes. If you hadn't been there, we'd be having this conversation on the other side."

"I was going to let Trunks and Goten die…" Krillin moaned quietly, hanging his head as he did.

Piccolo started to walk away, weary of the conversation, but stopped short as he passed Krillin, and spoke one last time. "That's when I knew you were ready."

* * *

Still unhealed, Trunks lay panting in the mud, reeling from the battle mentally as much as he was physically. The sun was steadily climbing, illuminating the battered battlefield around him.

For a long while, the mob of victorious soldiers paid him no mind, until finally Tien came and sat down beside him, all three of his eyes fixed on the rising sun.

"Well." The triclops finally offered. "That was something."

"Got a lecture for me?" Trunks returned.

"Not this time. Just a question."

"Well?"

"How long are you gonna keep this up?" Tien asked, finally turning to face his student.

"That's a stupid question." Trunks shot back.

"Maybe. I never claimed to be any kind of genius." Tien turned his attention back to the sunrise as he went on contemplatively, as if it didn't matter whether Trunks heard him or not. "But I don't think you're as hard as you're letting on."

"Well what do you think then, 'Master'?" Trunks spat back. "You saw me finish Freeza, didn't you?"

"I did. And I think you're trying to prove a point." Tien stated flatly. "I can't say I blame you, I did it for years, your father did it his whole life, but I don't think this is who you are. You need to put the past behind you, Trunks. Think about that while you're down there."

When Trunks failed to answer, Tien stood and turned toward the mob again, but turned back around long enough to lecture Trunks one last. "I'll be waiting for you up there, kid. I hope it's later than sooner."

* * *

With the sun now high in the morning air, the murmur of the crowd was finally beginning to fade, as talk of returning home began to spread through their ranks. Normalcy was all but upon them, when Piccolo's left ear perked suddenly, and he turned his head up toward the sky, an involuntary growl in his throat.

Before long, the entirety of the Earthling army had turned their attention up into the sky, as two thin, tall silhouettes appeared in front of the sun. The twin figures slowly lowered themselves toward to the earth, where they touched down side by side. The shorter of the two began to pace toward the group, slowly clapping as he did. He maintained a slow, methodical pace, applauding as he trod all the way, his companion close behind at his flank.

Gohan stalked to the head of the group and squared to face them, the hair on the back of his neck standing bolt upright, as the army instinctively gathered into form behind him. Goten and Uub gathered at either of his hips, unaggressive, but tense as they eyed the newcomers precariously. Dende cowered behind the trio, until Piccolo appeared at Gohan's side, brushed Dende behind him, and bared his teeth at the approaching duo.

The strangers were, appropriately, strange – foreign, even by the standards of the richly diverse Earth. The one trailing behind was roughly Piccolo's height, but far leaner clad in blue and white, with a golden ring around his neck and a staff in his right hand topped by a small orb. He appeared to be human, or humanoid, with light blue skin and a look of calm, passive intrigue upon his face.

Upon further inspection as the pair came into focus, the figure in lead was not, in fact, particularly tall, but was close to Goten in height, his long ears towering over his head giving him the facade of height from a harshly-lit distance. This one was clearly not human, more closely resembling a cat or even a rabbit, but walked on two feet as men do, and appeared to be man-like in every way but his physical appearance. He was strikingly thin, his open torso revealing a gaunt form with protruding ribs. He wore no shirt, only a wreath of cloth around his shoulders, and loose, blue pants with a long, checkered sash beneath a blue sash-belt. He wore golden bands around his arms, golden cuffs on his wrists, and a confident, menacing smile on his face.

The cat-like man continued to clap until he finally stopped pacing some 10 yards in front of Gohan. There, finally, after a long, awkward silence broken only by his steadily slowing applause, he stopped and spoke, a devious, yet intrigued smile on his face.

"Impressive."


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Lo, Do I See My Father

"Who are you?" Gohan asked coldly as he tried desperately to measure up the newcomers, but couldn't find a way to read their energy.

"This is Lord Beerus." The tall man replied, still smiling amusedly. "The god of destruction of your universe."

"The what?" Gohan asked.

"Gohan…" Piccolo warned in a hushed but urgent tone. "Be careful…I can't get a good read on them, but they're very powerful."

"Why are you here?" Gohan asked, warily as he was able.

"I had a dream," the one called Beerus replied matter-of-factly, "that I would find a god on this planet. A Super Saiyan god, specifically. Whis assures me you are the only remaining Saiyans in the universe, so I'm sure he's around here somewhere, though he certainly wasn't in that battle. Now, where is he?" As he finished, Beerus's voice dropped to a low, snarl.

"Dende!" Trunks was hissing angrily, stilly lying a good distance from the crowd. "Come heal me!" Dende tried to ignore him, but eventually backed over to where he lay and obliged, never taking his eyes off the pair of newcomers. Soon Trunks was on his feet as well, and walked over to join the others conversing with the strangers.

"You're looking at all the Saiyans we've got." Piccolo announced, speaking boldly, but calmly. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but there aren't any gods here. If we'd had one, we wouldn't have kept him away from that battle."

"Hmm…" Beerus replied, as he began to pace, stopping in front of Freeza's tail and tapping it curiously with his foot. "Yes, I suppose that's true. That was quite a battle. We would've stepped in sooner, but when I saw Freeza here on this planet I found it far too amusing to intervene.

"You did well." He continued, "Quite impressive for mortals, Freeza was formidable. But it's true – you're not gods."

"Then why are you still here?" Trunks snarled from the crowd, prompting death stares from Piccolo and Gohan, and shocked expressions from everyone else as he did.

"What was that?" Beerus replied, cocking his eyebrow at the young man. "Watch how you address me, boy, or I'll see to it you're never so petulant again."

"Watch who you call boy." Trunks sniped back, a snarling grin on his lips, much to the dismay of his allies.

Beerus's lip quivered momentarily, but he exhaled, and began chuckling self-assuredly. "I like you." He finally replied flatly, before looking back to Gohan and Piccolo. "It appears at least one of you still has some fight left." He finished with a devious smile. "Good."

"Why? What do you want?" Gohan asked nervously, "We told you we don't have who you're looking for."

"Perhaps." Beerus replied, "But you are Saiyans, so if there is a Super Saiyan god, it must be one of you. My dreams are quite accurate, you see. Perhaps he's right here among you, just waiting to be awaken by the challenge."

"Beerus…" Whis interjected informatively. "Actually, your dreams are quite inaccurate. Why, I can remember several times when-"

"Quiet, Whis!" Beerus barked, snarling over his shoulder as he did. "Enough talk! Who's first? Show me what the Super Saiyans are made of!"

"What?" Gohan asked in shock, though his question was immediately answered as the ground beneath his feet began to quake.

"Come on!" Beerus barked, the sky darkening overhead again. "You're Saiyans, right? You love to fight! Now's your chance to measure yourself against a god! Attack me!"

"Stop!" Gohan screamed, his heart beginning to pump as adrenaline set into his body. "We don't want to fight you, we don't even know who you are! We're done fighting!" Try as he might, the ground continued to shake and the sky continued to darken, and the harsh grin never left Beerus's face.

"Oh, dear." The tall stranger called Whis sighed, and backed away from his partner.

"I've given you an order! You will fight, or I'll destroy you all along with this planet here and now! You!" Beerus barked, staring directly into Trunks's eyes. "You've got some guts! Fight me!"

"Fine!" Trunks roared back, and keeled low to gather energy. " _rrrRRRAAHHHH!_ " he screamed, as his long purple hair shot gold and ran down the length of his back. He locked eyes with Beerus for a brief moment, and charged.

Beerus never moved, but allowed Trunks to rush directly into his exposed form, his devious smile never leaving his face. Trunks hit him like a freight train and began pounding him furiously, his fists flying with devastating speed and force, his long golden hair flailing behind him all the while.

Beerus never budged, save for his right hand, which he used to effortlessly catch every single one of Trunks's blows. Exasperated, Trunks burst over the top of Beerus's head and attempted to flip and kick in one smooth motion. In a marvelous display of athleticism, Trunks made a full rotation in mid air, his long golden hair streaming behind him all the way, and brought his foot rocketing down toward the back of Beerus's skull. This, too, was caught in Beerus's hand, however, and this time, the Destroyer did not release him.

In a nearly imperceptible flash, Beerus turned, raised Trunks up by the leg until they were eye to eye, and flicked the upside-down Saiyan in the forehead with a single finger. On impact, Trunks's hair drooped and his eyes glazed over, and Beerus dropped him to the ground, unconscious before he hit the dirt.

"Let's go! _rrrAAHHH!_ " Goten screamed, his hair shooting as long and golden as Trunks's had been a moment before. He lurched off the ground at Beerus, leaving a miniature sonic boom in his wake, with Uub hot on his heels.

"Goten, _STOP!_ " Gohan screamed, and reached for his brother's shoulder a moment too late. Before he could turn his head, Uub rushed past him on the opposite side of his body, and the pair escaped his reach.

The pair hit Beerus in a whirl of gold and pink light, flashing over and across one another at blinding speed, eight limbs flying in a blur all the while. Beerus, for his part, drew a tight circle in the dirt around himself with his foot, and never left it as he weathered the onslaught.

Beerus allowed the attack to go on for several seconds before tiring of it. Then, in a sudden burst, he flashed each arm outward, catching Goten and Uub by the head in either hand, and slammed their heads together in front of his body. Their auras faded, Goten's hair darkened, and Beerus cast their prone bodies aside.

"Who's next?!" Beerus taunted as loudly as he could.

"Errr…." Piccolo growled. "Tien, Yamcha, on me!"

"Piccolo!" Gohan screamed again, but was again too late. The trio closed in on Beerus, and the catlike man smirked once more, but stopped himself short with a raised eyebrow upon noticing their halos for the first time.

"No, not you." He said flatly, and waved his right hand across his body. Caught by a sudden tidal wave of a kiai to their left, the trio went sprawling through the air, finally landing in a pile nearly half a mile away.

Beerus, thoroughly unimpressed with his competition, allowed his eyes to wander after the three flying warriors for a long moment, chuckling lightly to himself as he did. Only when he turned his head forward again did he notice Okami's hands planted firmly on his chest.

" _KI-KO-HO!_ " The fused warrior screamed, and thrust with all his might as the blast erupted into his target's core from point-blank range.

Beerus stood bolt-upright as the blast hit him, his clothes billowing wildly around him for a long while, as if caught in a gale-force wind. Okami's hands never left his chest, but as the attack faded, sweat began to pour from his brow, and he panted deeply.

Beerus gave only an unamused "Hm." Before chopping the fused fighter in the side of the neck, collapsing him onto the ground in a heap.

"Enough!" Gohan finally screamed as he crouched low and let out a low "aaAAAHHHH" as he spiked his power to it's peak. The Saiyan lurched forward into his assault while his opponent did virtually nothing to counter, but at the last moment Beerus found he was forced to block surprisingly quickly, as Gohan's punch arrived with unexpected speed.

Before Beerus had adjusted to the change in pace, Gohan was fully into his combination and was forcing the Destroyer into a slow, steady backpedal, firing for all he was worth as he did. Encouraged by the sudden display of competence, Beerus did little to counter, but allowed the assault to continue, even encouraging the Saiyan as it went.

"That's it!" Beerus yelled wildly. "You've got more, bring it out! Bring it out or your world ends today!"

Gohan pressed forward for all he was worth, but found that for all his effort, he couldn't break through Beerus's defenses. Desperate for an advantage, the Saiyan tucked his legs into his chest, kicked Beerus away, planted his feet, and roared:

" _Kame-hame-HAAAAAA!_ "

A massive flood of light erupted from the Saiyan's hands, and Beerus's eyes widened in surprise as the attack washed over him. The humans standing behind the blast covered their eyes to protect them from the glare, and Gohan dropped to a knee, panting as he waited for the smoke to clear.

Gohan never saw Beerus leave the smoke. The Saiyan's eyes widened in shock for just a moment as Beerus appeared beside him and dropped his left elbow into the nape of his neck, sending him crashing to the ground and clinging to consciousness.

"Not bad." Beerus drawled toward the newly prone warrior, "But not good enough."

Turning his attention toward the remaining able-bodied warriors, Beerus opened his arms out wide. "Would anyone else like to try?"

Krillin, 18, and Videl, standing at the front of the army, hunkered into nervous, defensive stances, prompting the army behind them to reluctantly do likewise. None dared to move.

"Smart." Beerus lectured, staring directly at Krillin. "Now, if there's no Super Saiyan god on this planet, then it's of little use to me. Tell me, bald man, why should I allow you to continue living after all this m- _yeeeAAHHHH!_ "

Beerus suddenly broke off his speech in a terrible scream of pain as, to Krillin's utter horror, Uub clung to his back and sank his teeth into the side of the Destroyer's neck.

Beerus jumped in pain and flew high into the air, twisting and reaching for the child all the while, but Uub clung tight for all he was worth. Beerus finally managed to grasp the boy and tore him free with a vicious twist, a chunk of flesh still clasped in the boy's teeth.

" _You'll pay for that!_ " Beerus screeched, and threw Uub toward the Earth with all his might. From the crowd of soldiers, Chiaotzu threw his hands out to slow Uub's descent as best he could, but Uub hit the ground like a comet entering the atmosphere some 100 yards away from the group, where he cratered and lay still with only a whimper.

"Foolish brat." Beerus scoffed, as Whis chuckled lightly behind his hand on the ground below. "I could've sworn I put him out like the others." Beerus descended closer to the Earth, but stayed some 10 feet in the air, hovering above the mass below him. Soon, Whis had joined him, and the might of his power began to tremor the Earth once more, as the clouds darkened again overhead.

"An easy decision." Beerus said in a low, menacing voice as he glared down at Krillin. The short warrior was bent low, trying to help Gohan to his feet, but the Saiyan was unable to lift himself past a propped elbow. Several yards away, Trunks and Goten were slowly waking up, but were badly disoriented, and unable to rise to their feet.

"No planet so insolent can continue to exist." The Destroyer growled. "Remember in the next life what happens when you disrespect a god."

Beerus opened his palm and a tight orb of purple energy formed, lightning pulsating all around it, as thunder and lighting began to erupt in the sky behind him. Gohan tried desperately to climb to his feet, but couldn't begin to find the strength to do more than grimace and stare into the ball.

"All that…" he spat out, loud enough for only Krillin to hear. "All that…just to die like this."

"And to think I thought you might become gods." Beerus said, and lightly tossed the ball toward Earth.

The ball careened through the air some twenty feet in front of the group, as the entirety of the army looked on helplessly, Beerus smirking with his arms crossed all the while.

Krillin snapped back to reality and lurched to intercept it, futile as it may have been, but never got the chance. A streak of light appeared before him, then the body of a man, then nothing.

"Hm?" Beerus queried, his eyebrows rising suddenly, before dropping angrily, a tight snarl on his lips as he redirected his eyes back toward the Earthling army.

Standing ten paces in front of the army was Kibito, his hands clasped tightly behind his back, and a look of raw nerves across his face as every muscle in his body seemed to tense. To his right stood the Supreme Kai, posed identically, but more relaxed, as he wore a worrisome but resolute expression. And standing before them both, crouched low with a hand raised defensively, a confident smile on his face, and a halo above his head, stood a dark haired man in an orange gi.

"Father?" Gohan coughed in disbelief.

A growl formed in Beerus's throat as he surveyed the trio, but as his eyes lingered on the man in front, the growl faded and a sly grin slowly formed on his face. Krillin blinked his eyes several times without the ability to speak, until, at long last, he found it.

"Goku."


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The Wars to Come

Beerus snickered lightly to himself as he slowly descended toward Earth again, his eyes fixated on Goku all the while. With Whis striding at his heels, the Destroyer walked to within ten feet of the Saiyan, stopped, and measured him carefully.

"Hello, Kai." Beerus muttered.

"Hello, Beerus." The Supreme Kai returned, a hitch of unease in his voice, but no fear.

"Kibito." Whis said, nodding politely.

"Hello, Whis." Kibito dutifully replied, bowing slightly as he did.

"Who's your friend?" Beerus asked.

"This is Son Goku." The Kai replied. "He is the father of two of these Saiyans here, and the Protector of Otherworld."

"He's a god." Beerus stated flatly.

"What?" Gohan thought, still unable to lift himself up past his elbows. He attempted to measure his father's energy, but found himself unable to do so, and only registered a strange, dull throbbing for his effort. His father certainly didn't look different – he hadn't aged a day since he last saw him – but there was no mistaking the sensation, as it was identical to the one he experienced when he tried to measure Beerus.

"He uses energy as you and I do, yes." The Supreme Kai responded matter-of-factly.

"And a Saiyan." Beerus continued. "And he just interfered with one of my attacks."

"Only on my order." The Kai sniped back defiantly.

"You." Beerus growled, ignoring the Kai and staring directly into Goku's eyes as he spoke, though the Saiyan never flinched. "Are you, or are you not, a Super Saiyan god?

"Nobody's ever called me that." Goku said nonchalantly. "I can be one or the other, though."

"Semantics!" Beerus scoffed, loosely waving a hand in the air with a smile. "I knew my dream was right! I came all this way to find _you_!"

"Why'd you wanna find me?" Goku asked, genuinely curiously, even relaxing his guard slightly as he spoke.

"To fight you, of course!" Beerus shot back. ""To test my metal, to sharpen my skills, to feel alive! You know how rare it is for people like us to find peers – we have to fight!"

"Sounds fun." Goku replied, smiling confidently. "But you're gonna have to attack Supreme Kai first."

Beerus's jaw tightened slightly, but he kept his composure. "Is that so?" Beerus's eyes shifted momentarily from the Saiyan warrior to the Kai beside him, but quickly returned to Goku. "I think not. It's you I'll be attacking, I suggest you defend yourself."

"Beerus." Whis interjected. "Surely you're not considering attacking a dead man – one in the Supreme Kai's employ, no less." Whis stepped forward slightly and caught Beerus's gaze. "That would be – most – inappropriate."

Beerus growled in response, but made no move toward Goku. "I came here to find a Super Saiyan god, and right there he is!" He scowled. "Are you telling me your man won't fight, Kai? He's the only thing on this planet of any use to me – if you value it, I wouldn't keep him from me."

All eyes, most enthusiastically Goku's turned to the small, blue Kai, who for the first time looked truly shaken. He began to speak, but stuttered, and then dropped his voice without uttering a word.

"Very well." Beerus snarled, and floated up into the air, forming another pulsating ball in his palm. "Stop this one and I'll consider it an act of aggression, Kai. I should've destroyed the Saiyans long ago, I won't make the same mistake today."

Beerus's orb jolted to life with lighting once more, and he raised his palm to deliver toward Earth once again.

"Wait!" the Kai screamed, causing Beerus to pause a moment longer. "You want a Super Saiyan god…you can't fight Goku…but we can create one!"

Beerus hung in the air in thought for a long moment, but finally allowed the ball to fade away in his palm and dropped his voice low. "Go on."

"Goku is no deity," The Kai replied, "only a Saiyan who has learned to harness energy as we do. We have three Saiyans here with incredible talent of their own. Please, give Goku time, let him teach them how to wield it!"

"You're a mortal?" the Destroyer asked Goku.

"Well, I was." Goku replied calmly, "but now I'm dead, so…"

"A bright one, indeed…" Beerus trailed off. "Very well, Kai. Take these Saiyans with you and have one ready to challenge me in – oh, what's a short nap, Whis? Seven years?"

The Supreme Kai, shocked at the generous allotment of time, failed to utter a reply, so Beerus turned his attention to Goku. "How about it, Saiyan? Think you can have one of these weaklings ready to challenge me by then?"

"Well, no promises." Goku replied, "But I like my chances."

"Some motivation, then!" Beerus declared. "Here's my offer, Kai: choose a Sayian, teach him this skill, and name him as your champion. If he defeats me, I'll never return to your pathetic little planet again.

"But if he fails," Beerus drawled menacingly, "I will eradicate this planet, and every speck of life that calls it home along with it. Bring me your best, or suffer the consequences.

"Come along, Whis." He finished, as he turned his back on the army. "Seven years isn't long to sleep, I'll not waste any more of it dawdling here."

With that, the two floated high into the sky, and Beerus placed his hand on Whis's shoulder. Then, in a flashing streak, they were gone.

* * *

With the pair of strangers gone as quickly as they had appeared, Dende immediately resumed his work of healing the battered warriors. He first ran to Uub, where he was shocked to find him not only alive, but conscious, though his body was badly broken.

"Uub! I was afraid you'd be dead!" He yelled.

"Me too." Was the only reply the child gave as he rose back to his feet.

Dende then rushed over to Gohan, then to Goten and Trunks, and finally Piccolo, Tien, and Yamcha. Upon finding everyone alive, the group reformed around the Supreme Kai and his associates.

"It's sure good to see you, Goku." Krillin said, as he walked up beside his old friend, reaching up and placing his hand on the Saiyan's shoulder.

"Quiet, now." The Supreme Kai urged. "I don't expect you all to understand this, but what took place here today is unheard of in our world. For me to openly defy Beerus could have devastating ramifications on the universe. We have to act decisively now."

"Supreme Kai." Gohan offered, "Who was that? What 'ramifications' are you talking about?"

"I'll explain quickly, but then we must be going." The Kai returned. "To put it briefly, Beerus is my counterpart. Where I am responsible for the creation and maintenance of the universe, Beerus works to further its growth by removing aspects of it that hinder its growth."

"So he's evil." Goten chimed in.

"No, Goten." The Kai continued, "Though his behavior today was aggressive at best, Beerus is far from evil. He is as committed to the growth of our universe as I am – or, at least, he always has been in the past. You'll all understand how strongly I believe the Earth to be a necessity for this universe. If I did not, I never would've dared interfere.

"We must be off, now, we haven't a second to lose. Gohan, Goten, please join us. You as well, Uub."

Goku's two sons walked forward and placed a hand on each of Kibito's shoulders, and Uub placed one in the small of his back. Trunks walked forward to do likewise, but Kibito stuck out his arm and blocked his way, an open palm in the purple-haired Saiyan's face.

"No, Trunks." The Supreme Kai said flatly. "I think it best you stay here."

Before Trunks could protest, the group vanished from sight, leaving him standing alone in the middle of the mob.

"That's my cue, too." Piccolo said, ignoring the shunning that had just taken place. "You can all stay behind if you want, I've got work to do."

"Me and Chiaotzu are with you." Tien added. "We did what we came to do, it's time to move on."

"Old timers, too." Roshi said, standing alongside Shen and Tao.

"I'll hang back a while." Yamcha sighed. "Better say bye to bye to Puar, and somebody's gotta tell everybody we're not coming home. Might as well be me."

"See you on the other side." Tien told the dark haired man, as Piccolo began to escalate high into the air behind them. "Take care of 'em, Krillin." With that, he and Chiaotzu followed the Namekian up into the sky.

Soon Tao and Shen had joined them, and Roshi walked over to Krillin, fishing furiously in his tattered shirt pocket.

"Ah! There they are!" the old man finally exclaimed, pulling his signature red-brimmed sunglasses out of his pocket. "Not a scratch on 'em! Whatdayaknow! Here, take these."

Krillin looked puzzled, but reluctantly took the shades from the old man's hand. "They're not much of an heirloom, I know, but its something to remember your old master by. They're all yours now, son. Make me proud."

Tears started to well up in Krillin's eyes, but Roshi just patted his shoulder firmly and turned to leave.

"Now, now, don't start all that." He said as he started up into the air. "With all the trouble you boys get in to, I'm sure I'll be seeing you again before too long."

With that, the group faded into the distance, disappeared behind the clouds, and joined the next life.

When Krillin finally turned his eyes away from the clouds, the army had already begun to disperse, the men all shaking hands and offering well wishes to one another. 18 and Yamcha joined him, and prepared to return to the Lookout with their stories of victory, loss, and impending danger.

The somber scene was only interrupted by a roaring stream of wind and energy, as Trunks exploded off the Earth, and disappeared away into the distance.

* * *

The Saiyans and Kais reappeared in a flash on the Planet of the Kais, landing a few short steps away from where the Old Kai sat reading a magazine. Upon arriving, the group startled the old man into a wild flail, but no one seemed to notice.

"Dad, is that really you?" Goten asked excitedly, as he half-tackled his father.

"Yeah, it's me!" Goku laughed as he struggled to regain his balance. "Boy, you've really grown."

In truth, he had. Goten was now a teenager, standing past Goku's chin and sporting muscle mass his father hadn't amassed until he was a young man. With his hair cut short, he was no longer the spitting image of his father he had been was young, but standing side-by-side in matching orange gis, the resemblance was unmistakable.

"I've missed you, dad." Gohan said, as he walked up and put a hand on his father's shoulder. "Really could've used you during that Freeza fight."

"Oh, come on." Goku laughed again. "You guys did great! You're so much more polished than you used to be! And you've gotten so strong, Goten!"

"Goku." Kibito interrupted. "Perhaps we should begin. There will be plenty of time for this."

"Right." The elder Saiyan replied, furrowing his brow seriously.

"Father," Gohan asked, mirroring Goku's expression, "Is it true? Have you really become a god?"

"Afraid not." Goku said flatly. "I'm still me. But I can use energy like the Kais do now."

"And?" Gohan asked.

Goku flashed a quick, confident smile as he replied. "And there's nothing like it."

"Show us!" Goten exclaimed.

"Alright!" Goku shot back. "How 'bout it, Gohan? Last time I saw you, you would've beat me like a drum, even in Super Saiyan Three!"

"…do I have to?" Gohan whined.

"Shut up!" Goten jeered, plopping down in the grass and throwing a dirt clod as his brother, as Uub took his seat beside him. "You're still stronger than me, and we wanna see Dad fight."

Gohan was thoroughly unenthused with the idea, deeply tired of fighting and knowing full well how a sparring match with his father was liable to end up. It occurred to him, however, that to his little brother, their father was still something of a folk legend. He had met him, yes, and even been trained by him, but for less than a single day. Goku's life and adventures had been told and retold to him throughout his life, but he had virtually no first-hand experience. And so, to oblige his brother, Gohan sighed deeply, and nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright!" Goten exclaimed, as Goku began stretching. "This is gonna be awesome, Uub! Nobody fights like my dad."

"Ready?" Goku asked, the confident smile returning to his face again as he dropped into his signature stance.

Gohan sighed one last time, shook his muscles loose, and mirrored his father's position. "Let's go."

The pair burst off the ground at one another, neither of their hair ever changing from their natural darkened color. Gohan led his charge behind a pointed elbow, but at the last moment before impact, Goku threw his fingers to his forehead, and vanished from sight.

Gohan recognized the technique from years of conditioning, and instinctively wheeled 180 degrees to continue his assault, but found himself unable to locate his father's energy. His brief moment of hesitation cost him, as Goku reappeared along his right side and delivered a quick punch to his kidney, before Gohan was able to square up to him again and continue the onslaught.

The pair traded evenly for a long while, much to Goten's amusement, but it soon became abundantly clear to Gohan that he was acquitting himself so well only because his father was allowing it. Goku wore a relaxed smile throughout the barrage, clearly enjoying the experience, and attacked with virtually no effort.

Content to be beaten quickly and to allow his father to demonstrate his newfound skill, Gohan attempted a move he never would've in a live battle. The younger Saiyan thrust his arms out in front of him, firing a firm kiai to push his father away, and then made a wild, 360 degree spin, swinging his leg down toward his father's head like an axe to firewood.

Gohan swung with ferocity, sure that his father would dodge, or block, or otherwise counter into his severely unprotected form. Gohan let out a loud "yaaaAAAH!" as he brought his leg down, rocking his body behind the blow with all the force he could muster.

At the moment of impact, to Gohan's shock, Goku suddenly relaxed his defenses. Gohan's shin met the side of Goku's head with a loud " _SCHLACK_ " with enough force to kill nearly any man alive.

Goku's head bent slightly to the left as Gohan's kick made impact, but despite being in mid-air, the elder Saiyan never lost his balance. Gohan's wide eyes met Goku's for a brief moment, but before Gohan could move another muscle, Goku disappeared, reappeared on top of him, and drove him down to the earth.

Despite the incredible speed of their rush, Goku stopped his son just as they reached the ground. Gohan met the dirt flat of his back, but didn't crater an inch, as waves of energy spread through the grass around them like a pebble tossed into a pool. Goku stood over him, stuck out his hand, and helped him to his feet.

"So that's it." Goku said through a smile, as Gohan brushed dirt off his back and Goten and Uub traded awed, wide-eyed looks.

"Now you understand." The Supreme Kai added as he rejoined the Earthlings. "Provided you two are as capable as your father, we are prepared to teach you to wield this same power."

"Why not just have Dad fight him?" Goten asked. "You could take him, right Dad?"

"Of course not." Kibito chimed in. "Goku may well be the second most powerful being in our world, but he is no match for Beerus. Besides, Whis was correct; for Beerus to fight a resident of Otherworld would be a flagrant miscarriage of his position, particularly one responsible for the Supreme Kai's protection."

"It will have to be one of you." The Supreme Kai added, fixating his eyes on the Son brothers. "In the right hands, there is no limit to the good this power can do. It might even be enough to spare your planet from the likes of Beerus. In the wrong hands, it would be a grievous weapon destruction."

"So that's why Trunks isn't here." Gohan observed.

"I don't believe Trunks to be evil." The Supreme Kai clarified. "But he has shown himself far too erratic to be trusted with a power such as this. It must be one of you."

Uub raised his hand. Silently, politely, but firmly. "Yes, Uub?" The Supreme Kai asked.

"Why am I here? I'm no Saiyan."

"Yes, that's true. I thought it best you continue your training as well." The Kai replied, "Though, not here. Not yet, at least. Kibito will take you to the North Kai's planet shortly to begin your work. Now is no time to leave stones unturned."

"What do you think, Dad?" Gohan asked. "If we learn this, could we beat Beerus?"

"It's hard to say." Goku replied flatly. "I've never seen Beerus fight, but the power I was sensing from him was incredible. Then again, I still don't know how far this power goes."

"What do you mean?" Gohan asked.

"I'm still pretty new to this." Goku continued, "I only learned it in the last year or so. I don't know for sure, but I'm getting stronger every day. I haven't felt like this since before I became a Super Saiyan." Goku flexed his arms slightly and examined them as he continued to speak. "Maybe – and I really don't know – but I think maybe I can do it again."

"What about us?" Goten asked excitedly, springing up to his feet. "Do you think we can do it, too?!"

"I don't know." Goku smiled again, "But I think that's your only chance to beat Beerus."

"Supreme Kai." Gohan said, turning his attention forward again. "Suppose my father's right. What happens if we win?"

"What do you mean, Gohan?" The Kai replied.

"I doubt the Destroyer of the universe is going to give in to a mortal easily. You know how these battles go."

"Ask what you mean to ask, Gohan." Kibito interjected.

Gohan locked eyes with the Supreme Kai, a deathly serious look on his face. "I don't intend to see my family killed and my home destroyed. Supreme Kai, what happens if we kill Beerus?"

* * *

With a tunnel of light around them, Whis escorted Beerus through the universe at unimaginable speed, the Destroyer's hand held firmly on his guide's back. Ordinarily, Beerus would fall asleep during these treks, but today he was wide awake, almost fidgeting with excitement.

"Beerus." Whis began, "Was it absolutely necessary to be so aggressive? Those Earthlings did just rid the universe of Freeza for you, you know."

"Pfff!" The Destroyer responded. "If they had failed, I would've done it in an instant myself. Besides, you saw how insolent they were. That little one nearly ripped my head off with his teeth! They deserve the fate they'll be receiving, I only hope they can give me a proper challenge before they do."

Whis gave no reply, but sighed slightly with a stoic look on his face.

"What?" Beerus asked agitatedly. "You don't approve? This is my duty – I am the god of Destruction!"

"Of course." Whis replied flatly, as they sped even faster across the galaxies. "Of course you must do your duty, Lord Beerus."

Beerus, satisfied at the response, drooped his head and attempted to sleep, but Whis's eyes never wavered from his path.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Different Strokes

"Let's be going, Uub." Kibito said, extending his open hand out to the boy as the three Saiyans kept their eyes harshly fixated on the Supreme Kai. "You needn't hear this."

Tentatively, the brown skinned boy reached out and took his hand, and in a flash, the pair had disappeared from sight.

"Well?" Gohan asked again. "If we kill Beerus, what happens to the universe?"

"That's a complicated question, Gohan." The Kai replied. "A new Destroyer would have to be chosen, of course. Beerus is aging, but he's a ways from retirement yet, so his replacement won't have been selected. Whis would have to select a new one at that time, or choose to let the universe to exist in imbalance until one can be chosen. No Destroyer is preferable to a ill-fit one, but the universe cannot stay that way for long."

"This is making my head hurt…" Goten complained. "So we kill Beerus, then the tall guy finds a new Beerus who doesn't stir up as much trouble. Is that all? That doesn't seem so bad."

"There is one more thing…" the Supreme Kai trailed off, redrawing focus to himself as he drooped his head and stared at the ground. "Beerus and I had our lives bound the day we took our positions. This ensures we maintain at least a working relationship, but it necessitates that if you succeed – if you kill Beerus – I will perish as well."

An awkward silence fell across the group for a long moment until Gohan spoke up again. "And there's no way around this?"

"The only exception I'm aware of is suicide." The Kai replied. "Of course, that doesn't mean any of you couldn't kill me instead and achieve the same result, but I imagine you'd have to go through Goku to do it."

"Yeah..." Goku added quietly, "If Supreme Kai dies, I can go back to being just a regular dead guy, but if I don't do everything I can to save him, I'm gone forever, just like Vegeta…"

"I'm prepared to die for this cause," the Kai continued, "but I doubt Goku would ever allow you to harm me rather than fight the battle before you. Even if he did, such an action would corrupt the sanctity of the entire universe…"

"How does all this even happen?" Gohan asked exasperatedly.

"There is power far greater than mine, Gohan." The Supreme Kai replied sharply. "In positions such as mine and your father's, we are given strict limitations. What we are doing here is already brushing against them, and for that I'm sure I will have a price to pay. I would never have taken such action if I didn't believe Beerus was already doing far more."

* * *

A week passed, and no one had seen or heard from Trunks. Yamcha delivered the news of the warriors electing not to return to Earth, and then joined his friends in Otherworld. Krillin took to wearing Roshi's sunglasses, much to his wife's chagrin, the Earthling army dispersed back to their respective homelands, and slowly but surely, with the threat of Beerus so far in the distance, a cautious normalcy began to creep back in on the Earth.

Krillin sat on the beach outside of Kame House watching Yamcha's four students spar in knee-deep seawater through Roshi's signature glasses. He stayed vigilant, dutifully shouting instruction whenever necessary, but in utter boredom all the while.

Years of tireless work had culminated in a rollercoaster of emotions ranging from inconsolability to uninhibited joy to utter helplessness for Krillin. It had been heartbreaking, and exciting, and terrifying, and, in hindsight, undeniably fun, and the adrenaline rush had lasted for days after, but here, after seeing the ease with which the Destroyer had disposed of their Saiyans, the task before him felt outright pointless.

Freeza had offered him everything he loved about his life as a martial artist: high stakes, the excitement of an unpredictable opponent, the opportunity to train and fight alongside his friends, and to win the fights he could and help in the fights he couldn't. Boys had grown into men, old men had changed their ways, even dead men had played their part. It had been horrifying, but with a safe Earth and allies that had either survived or made peaceful decisions to depart, the pride he felt at being some small piece of the victory swelled inside him until he thought he might burst.

The upcoming challenge, however, was considerably less engaging. He was exhausted, mentally, physically, and emotionally. He had lost his wife, killed his friend, and executed a man. He did not want to fight any more, and seven years of training meant seven years of torture toward a battle he wasn't sure he could stomach.

And yet here he sat, commissioned to his task by three of the men he respected most in the world in Roshi, Piccolo, and Tien. He was proud to have the honor, and took it seriously, but couldn't shake the feeling of futility it carried.

"Alright guys," he said, as the four waded out of the water and sat down beneath a nearby palm tree, all lugging large turtle shells on their backs. "Be honest with me: why are we doing this?"

The dumbfounded looks he received in response told Krillin he needed to reconsider his words, so he cleared his throat, and tried again. "Look, I've been fighting monsters my whole life. One kneed me in the head and killed me when I was a kid, and the one we just beat blew me up about a decade later. I've watched my wife and my friends die, I've had my neck broken, I've been turned into a statue, one time I got turned into a piece of candy and eaten…"

"So you regret it?" Hammur asked.

"Not a second of it." Krillin replied with a smile. "But I always believed that I could make a difference, no matter how small. I thought that if I worked hard enough and hung in there no matter how much I wanted to run away, I could find a way to do some little, tiny thing to help us win – and I always did.

"Guys, for the first time in my life, I don't feel that way about this one."

The group sat in sullen silence, nervously darting their eyes to one another, until Krillin continued.

"I've never seen anything like Beerus. Freeza's power was so big I couldn't measure it, but I couldn't even sense Beerus's. Gohan and Goten are trying to turn into gods just to challenge him. And maybe they'll win, I don't know, but I just don't see how what we do here makes any difference."

"What would you have us do?" Nein asked, halfway irked.

"I don't know – what do you want to do?"

Another nervous pause followed until Hammur broke the silence sarcastically. "What, you want us to go play the cello?"

Irked but undeterred by the sarcasm, Gorra stood up out of the sand and looked his master in the eye and spoke boldly, "I want to fight." To which the others nodded their heads in agreement.

Krillin sighed deeply before responding, "I was afraid you'd say that. Alright then, tell me this: if you want to fight, why are you still here?"

Gorra raised his brow in confusion, as the others stood up around him with similar expressions.

"You guys are what, seventeen now? Give or take a year?" Krillin pressed on. "That's older than I was when I left Kame House, and I just had Piccolo to get ready for. You've got seven years to figure something out. Everybody else is training in Otherworld, and swimming laps around my island isn't going to do anything but make you fall farther behind. You need to get out of here and see what else you can learn."

"But who's out there to challenge us?" Hammur protested. "You're the best master on Earth, and we've got each other to push us right here!"

"Well, Trunks and 17 are out there, if any of you have a death wish..." Krillin continued, "But there's a whole world out there! How many hundreds of Freeza's soldiers slipped away during that war? And we just trained an army and then released it unsupervised, there's going to be trouble in these next seven years. Even if that's all the time Earth's got left, somebody has to watch this place in the meantime. You wanna fight Beerus, fine, fight him, but there's a lot of good to be done here while you wait. Maybe that's your calling."

The four young warriors finally exhaled and traded reluctant smiles as they dropped their turtle shells into the sand one by one.

"Yeah!" Krillin yelled, kicking a mound of sand into the men as they lifted up off of the ground. " _Now_ _get off my island!_ "

With that, the Wolf Four exploded across the sky, side by side into the distance.

* * *

Late that evening, Trunks sat alone on a ledge overlooking the sea as the sun went down. He was exhausted, soaked in sweat and breathing deeply from another day of violent, rage-filled work. In a sense, he was training, humiliated by his defeat; in another, he was only lashing out at his misfortune.

"Hello, Trunks." A calm, smooth voice sounded behind him.

Trunks turned his head enough to peak through his long, wet hair. Standing only three feet behind him, staff in hand, was the tall, blue stranger.

"What happened to seven years?" The Saiyan asked.

"I believe the agreement was that Beerus would wait seven years to return." The stranger replied. "I am not Beerus. I am Whis."

"I see. Go away, 'Whis'." Trunks spat as he turned his attention back to the sea.

Whis allowed several seconds to pass before speaking again, only the sound of the wave crashing against the rocks below breaking the silence.

"Beerus watched your entire battle with Freeza in this orb, did you know that?" he asked, tilting his orb-tipped staff forward as he spoke.

"I heard him." Trunks spat back.

"Yes, I suppose he did mention that." Whis continued. "I have been watching you for much longer, Trunks."

At this, Trunks turned his head slightly to eye the stranger. "Why?" he asked bluntly.

"Beerus sleeps through a great many things, but very little of import escapes my notice." Whis replied, almost singsong-like.

"And?"

"When a creature such as Majin Buu is awakened and then defeated, I take notice."

"So you watched Gohan."

"I watched him defeat Buu, yes. I also saw all those that came to his aide, including the one called Vegeta."

"Just come out with it already." Trunks stood up to his feet, but kept his body turned toward the ocean.

Whis sighed deeply, and then continued. "I am worried about Beerus."

Trunks eyed him curiously out of the corner of his eye, but kept his body turned toward the sea as Whis continued.

"That he would openly antagonize a group of well-meaning individuals like you Earthlings is inappropriate, though not of particular concern, and certainly not a new development. That he would threaten the Supreme Kai's personal guard and attempt to engage a dead man in a brawl for sport is deeply troubling. A Destroyer's duty is to destroy, not to terrorize, and as Beerus ages, that line becomes increasingly difficult to divine."

Trunks didn't move, but lingered on every word the stranger spoke.

"The Supreme Kai left you behind because you are not like the other Saiyans. They are pure-hearted; they lack cruelty, they seem to truly desire peace, and they bear very little malice toward those who have wronged them. He was right to take them over you; it is his duty to encourage such principals, and you are no fit for his mold.

"He also understands a fundamental truth: the hour may be approaching where Beerus must be removed from his position. The Kai has taken steps to address this, though he knows doing so would cost him his own life, and for that, I respect him greatly. Those Saiyans represent the boldest move he has ever made, even greater than traveling to Earth to confront Majin Buu himself."

"Does this have a point?" Trunks asked impatiently.

"It does, I assure you." Whis continued, undeterred by the interruption, "I have my own standards by which I judge potential, Trunks, and they are quite different from the Kai's."

At this, Trunks finally turned around, and focused his full attention on the blue man, though still wearing an impatient scowl. Whis continued to speak, but now it was he who seemed unfocused, as though he were simply reciting a list of grievances.

"Beerus allowed Freeza to run rampant on the universe for decades, and then failed to confront him upon his return. He has been passive in his duties, he has shown aggression toward the innocent, he has destroyed burgeoning civilizations for the smallest of infractions, and now he is challenging Kais and dead men. Perhaps he will prove me wrong yet, but I must make preparations for the alternative.

"I have scoured the world over for one who might be groomed to replace him, Trunks. For a moment, I thought your father might fit the mold, but death reached him long before I could. And so I've watched you all closely in his stead.

"Goten is a savant of a combatant with incredible drive to boot, and not lacking aggression when the situation demands it. He revels in battle and is morally fit, but he is aloof and narrow-minded; an utter misfit for the position.

"Gohan is more competent, a rare blend of intelligence and physical talent, but he resents combat, his purest tenacity only rears its head when he's backed into the deepest of corners, and under the stress of battle, his powerful mind is prone to cloud. Perhaps he could fill the position well, but his nature would never allow it. He simply will not do.

"Uub is but a child; hard-minded, well trained, and born with talent transcending this world, but a child no less, and with a creature like Buu locked inside him, it is impossible to know yet what he might become – or what might become of him. If only I had the time, I might inspect him further, but today he is not ready, and I cannot wait for tomorrow.

"But you, Trunks." Whis smiled here for the first time since he began his speech. "You lack the natural understanding for combat Goten possesses, but your instincts are impressive in their own right, and your drive is every bit his equal. You lack the physical gifts of Gohan, but your body is strong, and your mind an even match to his; under pressure, yours is superior by far. Your body is young and your mind still fit to mold, but you have the competence and strength to stand up to any training. Most importantly, you understand what the others likely never will: hatred."

"What are you saying?" Trunks asked, now wide-eyed with anticipation.

"Where the Supreme Kai seeks a idealist, I must find a realist. Beerus may yet regain his judgment, or defeat you all and render the point moot, but while he slumbers, my work continues. Whether you are the correct choice, I cannot say, but you are my best hope, and I intend to test your metal.

"Come with me, Trunks, and I will give you the power of the gods."

 _Author's Note:_

 _Real quick, guys. I've said this several times, but my update rate has been abhorrent. I've blamed it on a busy schedule to this point - and there's a lot of truth in that - but the bigger problem, frankly, has been disinterest and writer's block. Well, good news._

 _I'm past the writer's block, and now have the entirety of the story mapped out. It's still going to take time to write it, which, you know, busy schedule and all that, but the bones are there now, and for the first time in a long time I'm excited about it. Expect the rate of release to increase significantly from here on out._

 _I told you guys we're gonna finish this, and I meant it. Thanks for sticking with me._

 _-SlotT7_


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Advanced Placement

Kibito and Uub appeared on King Kai's planet in an instant, apropos of nothing. Upon first landing, Uub doubled over, momentarily caught off guard by the dense planet's elevated gravity, but quickly adjusted, corrected his posture, and examined his surroundings.

The planet was as unimpressive as ever; a single tree, a paved road, a red sports car, and a small, homely abode comprising the entirety of the landscape. Soon, the door of the house opened revealing three figures.

First out was Bubbles the monkey, who quickly ran and climbed the tree, utterly disinterested with the newcomers. Next was King Kai, short, blue, and plump, as he had always been, his halo still in place. Finally, crouching his massive form low to fit through the frame of the door, was Piccolo, a halo adorning head as well.

"Mister Piccolo!" Uub yelled, running forward and jumping into the Namek's chest. Piccolo was caught off guard, but dodged slightly by moving aside and catching the child in the crook of his arm.

"Good to see you, too, kid." He said, ruffling the boy's hair as he did.

"What are you doing here?" the boy asked.

"I'm doing some work for King Kai." The Namekian replied. "I'll be spending a lot of time here."

"North Kai," Kibito interjected. "Is this true? Piccolo is welcome to stay here, of course, but in what capacity?"

"Oh, don't get all formal on me, Kibito." King Kai replied. "If the Supreme Kai gets a body guard why shouldn't I? I'm the one who got his planet destroyed, after all…"

"Be that as it may, there is protocol, North Kai." Kibito protested.

"Not unless I'm promoted." King Kai returned, half-jokingly, but with an ere of seriousness in his voice. "Otherwise you would've fired me when I died."

"Perhaps," Kibito relented. "I will inform the Supreme Kai of the arrangement. If he has no protest, then I withdraw my own."

"Fine by me." King Kai replied flatly, "Anyway, Uub, I understand you'll be staying with us a while."

"I…I don't know…" Uub stuttered, climbing back to the ground to address the Kai properly. "That's what Supreme Kai said, but I'm not sure what's going on…"

"Uub." Piccolo said, staring firmly down at the child, "The Supreme Kai brought you along because you have more potential than any child ever born. If you can learn to control that power, you might even surpass Beerus. There's no better teacher of energy control than King Kai, and I'll be here the whole time. Will you stay with us?"

Any apprehension Uub might have felt was chilled by the resoluteness in Piccolo's voice. A firm "Yes sir." Was his only reply.

"Well, there's your answer." King Kai said nonchalantly. "Thanks for bringing him over, Kibito."

"Of course." Kibito replied. "We'll be checking in quite often, North Kai. Seven years is ample time, but it goes by quickly."

With that, Kibito vanished again, back to the Planet of the Kais.

* * *

Whis and Trunks rushed through space at blinding speed for hours, Trunks's mind lost in the space around him, until they were suddenly still. A strange planet marked by foreign markers and condensed celestial objects surrounded them, as the silence of the planet seemed to ring in the Saiyan's ears.

"Step lightly, if you don't mind." Whis asked calmly. "Waking Beerus would be unfortunate for the both of us."

* * *

Back on the Planet of the Kais, Goten and Gohan were already in full swing. Attacking as a pair, they pressed their father as best they could in an effort to corner and catch him.

Try as they might, Goku's speed was too much for them. The harder they pressed, the faster he would push, leading them on fruitless chases for minutes at a time.

Finally, Gohan noticed a pattern in his father's movements, and redirected wildly to intercept him. It worked perfectly. Goku let out a yelp, caught completely off guard as Gohan widened his arms and thrashed them together around his father's shoulders, only to yell in surprise when his arms clasped nothing but empty space.

Some 15 yards away, Goku smiled widely back at him, his fingers still pressed to his forehead.

"No fair!" Goten protested, less accustomed to his father's antics than his older brother. "Nobody can catch you if you do that! You could go anywhere in the world!"

"So learn it yourself!" Goku shot back, every bit as petulantly as his son.

"Really?!" Goten yelled.

"Sure! Sit down right here!" Goku positioned his sons on either side of him, and sat down in the grass opposite them, some 5 yards away. "Now close your eyes and focus on my energy. I'll make it normal so you can feel it. Lock on and pull your energy toward mine."

Stillness filled the air as Gohan and Goten pushed their energy toward their father's. As seconds turned into minutes Gohan felt his mind begin to wander, but forced himself to focus, to dig deeper, to will his body to obey. The minutes ticked by, the stillness only broken by an occasional billow of gentle wind.

"I did it!"

Goten's cry filled the air, snapping Gohan's eyes open. Less than an hour had passed.

"Unreal…" Gohan said as he fell back into the grass. For all the strength his body possessed, Goten's aptitude never ceased to amaze him.

"Stay with it, Gohan." The Supreme Kai said, now suddenly standing just behind him. "No Saiyan ever born has potential like yours. I'm as sure you'll be the one to defeat Beerus as I was that you'd defeat Buu."

Refocused, Gohan sat up again, closed his eyes, and went back to work, his brother vanishing and reappearing all around him as he did.

* * *

Light years away, Trunks was having a decidedly less calming experience. Burdened by a suit with a weight he could not have imagined, he wandered the perimeter of the sleeping Destroyer's planet, step by step, grunting silently until the strain of his effort threatened to tear his muscles from his bones.

And then Whis would stop him, and move him along to the next task, always equally grueling, and always the same as the day before. Day after day, repetition after repetition, toiling until his body could perform the routine without aid of consciousness, and always in silence, so as not to wake the sleeper.

* * *

 _Six months passed as the warriors trained, Beerus sleeping all the while._

* * *

Trunks's body had grown stronger, his mind tougher, his resolve firmer, and his strength immeasurably greater. He had begun to gain the power he sought, though he could hardly stomach the process, and the more the acquired, the more his hunger grew.

Finally, after months of sameness, Whis broke him from his routine.

"What'd you say?" He asked defensively, as Whis directed him to follow him into the air toward a tiny adjacent planet.

"Oh, stop fretting. Just keep your hand on my back." The blue man responded.

Trunks obeyed hesitantly, and soon found himself staring into a strange floating portal.

"Off you go!" Whis sang as he shoved Trunks forward with surprising force. Before he could react, the Saiyan found himself suspended in emptiness, only a white void surrounding him.

"What is this!?" he yelled, but try as he might, he could not move. And so he floated, and strained, and struggled, and roared for nearly an hour to no avail, until finally, exhausted, he relaxed.

"Stop fussing and think." Whis said to the orb, though Trunks had no way of hearing him. "If the Kai is right, your body should be ready for this."

When the thought finally hit Trunks, it was as though it had been the only answer all along. Like it was the only answer that he ever could've arrived at, yet had been too blind to see.

Trunks turned to move again, but let no ounce of his energy escape his body. And, in response, his body moved.

Whis stared deeply into his orb, nodded approvingly, and went on about his business.

* * *

Days melted into weeks, and weeks into months for the Saiyans in Otherworld. Goten and Gohan continued to chase their father, though an ocean separated them, and soon their power began to blossom. Their progress was steady – predictable, even – and despite it's grueling pace, their prospects of rising to their challenge looked promising.

Finally, six months in, the first true abnormality occurred. Gohan and Goten were locked in yet another sparring match, trading blows at a torrid pace, when Gohan felt an unfamiliar discomfort.

The exchange was even – not a strange occurrence, in and of itself – but despite his continued uptick of effort, Gohan couldn't seem to break the stalemate. Goten had been pushing him farther into his strength for a while, that was to be expected, but he had always capped out sooner or later. Today, however, he showed no signs of slowing down.

Gohan pushed harder and harder, until he was soon fighting at full throttle, diving and blasting and phasing in and out of sight with every ounce of strength he could muster, but still his brother kept coming. Goten, for his part, never broke his assault, pressing his advantage and matching his brother blow for blow as he aggressively maintained the offensive position.

Gohan dug deeper, and deeper, until he felt his body hit the wall. He tried to push through it – a central tenant of his training thus far – but found himself unable, and still, Goten kept coming.

The two locked in the air for what felt like hours, trading blows they were worth, until, finally, Goten broke the stalemate. Gohan's fist passed harmlessly through an after image of his brother, and a moment later, Goten's knee met his exposed stomach, doubling him over in pain.

The match was over before Goten landed his next blow. The younger Saiyan dropped his hands like an axe onto his brother's back, sending him crashing to the ground below. Before Gohan could recover, Goten was on top of him, his right fist drawn to strike again, but Gohan was slow to defend, so Goten held, and after an uneasy moment, the fight came to a stop.

"What happened there?" the Old Kai asked, half laughing as Goku beamed next to him.

"Did I do it?!" Goten asked excitedly as Gohan gingerly rose to his feet. "Did I use god energy?!"

"Well, sorta, at least a little right there at the end." Goku replied. "It wasn't much, but Gohan's on the ground, so it wasn't nothing, either."

"I don't know, dad." Gohan interjected. "That was something new for Goten, but he doesn't hit anything like you. You think maybe he's just catching up to me?"

"You think?" Goten asked.

"Sure." Gohan replied, "I mean I've been at my limit for a while, and you've always been kind of a wonder boy. Maybe your limit's just higher than mine."

"Perhaps I could provide some clarity there." The Old Kai offered, sitting down in the grass and extending his open hands. "I've felt Gohan's potential, it won't be any trouble to measure yours as well. Heck, I'll go ahead and let you tap into it, how's that sound?"

"Eh….no thanks." Goten responded. "I'd rather do it myself." Goku smiled at the response, but the Old Kai just shook his head.

" _Pffft_ …always with the Saiyan egos. I can give you access to your latent strength, nothing I do will teach you how to use it like a Kai."

"Still…" Goten hesitated.

"Fine, fine, fine…" The Old Kai whined. "I'll leave it all where it is, but we should know how you two stack up if we have to choose one of you to fight Beerus. Sit down, I'll only gauge your potential."

"I guess that's okay…" Goten finally wavered, and sat down across from the Old Kai, who closed his eyes and went into deep thought for a long moment before reopening them and dropping his hands.

"Well?" The Supreme Kai asked.

"The boy has some of the greatest power I've ever experienced." The Old Kai replied.

"Even more than Gohan?" Goten asked, nervous but full of anticipation.

"Not quite, I'm afraid. In my experience, Gohan's potential is still unmatched. You're a not-so-distant second in that regard."

Each of Goku's sons bore disappointed expressions, Goten's deeper, and Gohan's tinged with irritation, until Goku jumped between them and put his hand behind each of their heads.

"Welp! That's what you get for askin'!" He yelled, and thrust their heads forward and away from the group. "Now get back to it!"

After a moment's hesitation, the Saiyans obliged, and launched into a far less enthusiastic match. As Goku looked on, arms folded across his chest and a blank expression on his face, the Supreme Kai walked over beside him.

"Goku," the Kai began, "I understand Goten's disappointment, but this only means he's picking up the training faster. Why would that news trouble Gohan?"

"'Cuz Gohan doesn't wanna fight." Goku answered. "Truth be told, I don't think Gohan even really wants to be here. Ever since he got Instant Transmission down, he's spendin' every night at home, and by the time he gets back, Goten's already started training. He's puttin' on a brave face 'cuz he thinks it's his responsibility, but Gohan doesn't love this stuff like Goten and me."

"Perhaps not, but he isn't wrong." The Supreme Kai retorted. "This _is_ his responsibility, whether he wants it or not. He may be a slower learner than Goten, but we need to focus our preparation on our most talented fighter to defeat Beerus, and we've just confirmed that Gohan is that fighter. Besides, it's only one sparring match, it's quite likely that Gohan is still the stronger fighter at this point."

"Maybe…" Goku trailed off. "But 6 months ago, Goten couldn't have ever landed a blow like that on Gohan, even in Super Saiyan 3. Goten's busting his butt every day, and we can't just hand Gohan his power this time. No matter how hard Gohan tries to push through it, if Goten's already closed the gap this much…"

Goku was interrupted by a _SCHLACK_ as Gohan landed a pointed elbow just above Goten's earhole, sending him wildly flipping through the air, before giving chase and pummeling his younger brother as he flailed for his balance.

Both Goku and the Supreme Kai gave a slight smile. "He may not be like you, Goku," the Kai said just before he turned to leave, "but don't give up on him yet. He is still the firstborn Son."

* * *

 _And so it went, day after day, until another six months had passed, marking a full year since Freeza's death. Isolated from the world, no one knew of Trunks's whereabouts, and soon all but his family scarcely thought of him. Uub's body grew, but not nearly as quickly as his mind – or his power. And the Sons continued to work under their father, striving daily to attain his strength._

* * *

It was early in the morning when the Supreme Kai broke the silence. Goten and Gohan were meditating atop a small mountain, completely lost in concentration, their father sleeping a few feet away, when the Kai loudly cleared his throat.

"My apologies." He said, flashing a confident smile they had only rarely seen since he first appeared on Earth years ago as the three Saiyans awakened. "I don't mean to disturb you, but I have exciting news. Kibito has arranged an event for us."

"Whatcha got?" Goten asked curiously. Now well into his teens and isolated from his mother, his face was lined with patchy days-old stubble.

"The Supreme Kai asked that I find sparring partners for the two of you." Kibito replied calmly. "I was unable to find any in our universe, I'm glad to say, so I have made other arrangements."

"Out of our universe?" Gohan asked skeptically.

"Universe 6, specifically." The Supreme Kai responded. "They are our sister universe, so we've arranged it a friendly matchup. Universe 6's Supreme Kai is a childhood friend of mine."

"They were received the offer warmly." Kibito offered. "Though I did have to make a few concessions, being as we were the requestors."

"What's the catch?…" Gohan asked, fully expecting the worst.

"The matches are to be held in Universe 6." Kibito responded calmly. "And they've insisted that each side bring three contestants. I believe they have warriors of their own they'd like to test."

"Well that's not so bad." Gohan responded. "Dad, you in?"

"Yeah!" Goku shot, before catching a harsh glare from the Supreme Kai. "Wait…no…I can't fight away from here unless I'm protecting Supreme Kai…

"Hey, I know!" he continued. "Supreme Kai, why don't _you_ enter, and then when the other guy attacks you, I can jump in and fight him!" Goku snapped into his fighting stance as he finished.

A moment of silence lingered before the Supreme Kai found his words. "A proposition like that doesn't merit a response."

"Gohan," Kibito said. "Uub is the obvious choice for the third position, but if his power isn't under control, we can't risk taking him to another universe, so the Supreme Kai and I will evaluate him ourselves. We're a a bit short on alternatives, but you travel home fairly often; is there anyone on Earth who might do?"

"Well, there's no one close to Uub…" Gohan replied, only just now realizing he had failed to check in on Uub or Piccolo even once since the day he harnessed Instant Transmission. "But the Wolves are actually getting pretty tough for humans. I'm sure they'd jump at the chance if I invited one of them."

"Is that what they're calling themselves?" Goten laughed as he fell back into the grass.

"That's what Krillin calls them…" Gohan trailed off, half embarrassed. "That or 'The Wolfpack'…"

* * *

Moments later, Gohan locked in focus on the first Wolf he was able to sense – Gorra, in this case – and disappeared from sight. When he reappeared, he was shocked to find himself in the throes of a war zone. Trenches surrounded him on all sides as missiles fired overhead, to his utter bewilderment.

Snapping back to reality, he saw them; in front of him, the four former Wolf students, drenched in blood and sweat, but otherwise unharmed, were methodically working their way forward through enemy lines, death trailing them all the while.

Gohan watched in disbelief as the group meandered on, each move they made unified, indistinguishable from a true wolf pack. Enemy artillery rained down on them, but scarcely reached it's mark, and left virtually no damage even when it did. And onward the wolves marched, until they were out of Gohan's sight, where the battle continued undisturbed, and then suddenly grew still.

Gohan stood still, slack jawed with a foreign mixture of confusion and awe with both the efficiency of Yamcha's students and the fact that he'd found himself in a warzone in the first place upon reaching Earth. Each time he started to pursue his targets he paused, feeling almost shy to confront them. To his pleasure, they soon spared him the trouble, and marched back to meet him, marching shoulder to shoulder, stride for stride.

"Hi, Gohan." Naken finally said, a smile creeping across his blood soaked face. "It's been a while."

* * *

Half an hour later the group sat around a smoldering fire in the victorious army's campground. Gohan waited a while before speaking, observing the faces of the soldiers passing by, many of whom stopped to shake hands and speak briefly with the Wolves as they passed their fire.

Gohan paid close attention to the scene, and took special note of two key points. First, that several of the soldiers passing by had discernable outputs of energy – far from threatening, but far more than he had come to expect from ordinary humans. He recognized a few of their faces as well, which he took to mean they had served alongside him in the war against Freeza.

Secondly, and more relevantly, the four Earthlings he had come to see were incomparably stronger than they had been when they had last met. He had known they'd been growing– they were years into their training now, and each was a bona fide warrior in his own right, but with no serious enemies to threaten them, Gohan doubted they would ever live up to their predecessors. Yet here they sat, and with their bodies still hot from the battle, Gohan could easily sense the energy they carried. Each one rivaled anything the Saiyan had ever felt a human muster.

"What happened to you guys?" Gohan finally asked. "What have you been doing this whole time."

"This, mostly." Hammur replied. "If there's a fight down here, we're usually in it sooner or later."

"We fight for good, as often as possible." Nein clarified. "Though I'll admit it's not always that cut and dry."

"So what do you do then?" Gohan asked again.

"We've tried playing peacemaker," Gorra offered, "but sooner or later we have to leave, and they go right back to it. We even split up when we couldn't agree who was right once, but that just made a bigger mess."

"We use our best judgment. " Naken said flatly.

"Why not just stay out of it?" Gohan pressed.

"Training, for one." Hammur said. "But there's a lot of evil in the world, and we've got the strength to face it. We can't just let it run wild. Besides, the army needs the work."

Hammur's light motion to the horde around him finally alerted Gohan to his surroundings. The battle he had just witnessed might have been the result of a quarrel between strangers, but the army around him was no stranger at all. This was the evolution of the Earthling army, and he was sitting in the company of its Generals.

Gohan examined the force more carefully and found recognizable faces all through it's ranks. To his surprise, however, they were not all former allies. Several of the members were clearly humanoid remnants of Freeza's force, their numbers sparse but their features unmistakable.

"It's just the one's that can pass for Earthlings so far." Hammur continued, noting Gohan's observance. "We'll start working the others in once more time passes."

Gohan's face was pure confusion, so Gorra chimed in. "This is their penance for the attack. We're allowing the survivors to remain on Earth, so long as they fight to defend it."

"That's really something." Gohan said as he scratched his head, impressed but unsure of the arrangement. "How'd you all get so strong, anyway?"

"We've all drank the water at Korin's tower." Nein replied. "And we've exhausted our time in the Time Chamber."

"Crazy…" Gohan offered. "I'd really like to know more, guys, but I'm actually here on business. Kibito's set us up with another universe to do some sparring, but we're short a fighter. It should be a good chance to test your strength, if any of you are interested."

The group sat quietly for a moment before Nein spoke up. "Gorra, I guess that'd be your department."

"'Department'?" Gohan asked.

"We've all got jobs – loosely." Naken explained. "Hammur does the recruiting, Nein handles the training, I organize and command the army, and Gorra focuses on his own training."

"So you're the Champion, huh?" Gohan asked, half-jokingly, though he soon regretted it as Hammur and Nein both shot him irritated glances.

"I am the strongest now, yes." Gorra said. "We thought it best that one of us focus solely on training, since duels won you all so many battles in the past."

"Well perfect, let's get going!" Gohan said as he stood too his feet.

"I'm sorry." The brown-skinned man replied. "I'd like to test myself, but the

army is only just now starting to gel. This is a delicate time, my duty is here."

"Oh come on…" Gohan whined. "They don't even need you, this is a great chance to test your strength!"

"Sorry, Gohan." Naken offered. "But with you all gone, this is a dangerous time for Earth. We've gotta get this army into fighting shape before we can risk running off and leaving the planet unguarded."

"We'll have a standing army on Earth before long." Hammur chimed in. "One that can rotate guard duty and keep the planet covered at all times. Until then, we're staying here."

Gohan sighed for a long moment before standing back to his feet and shaking hands with the younger men. "Fair enough." He finally said, "Great work, guys. I'll see you around."

"Fair enough." Gohan said, as he stood up and placed two fingers on his forehead. "You're all doing great. Thanks for taking care of the place while we're away."

* * *

Gohan reappeared at Krillin's house and spoke to him briefly, but was quickly rebuffed by both him and 18 after only a few short minutes of small talk. In total, he considered the visit a waste, save for a tidbit of information regarding the newfound strength of the Wolves.

"Oh yeah, they're stout." Krillin had told him. "They've all drank Korin's water, and they've burned all their time in the Time Chamber training. I wouldn't want to tangle with any of them now – maybe not even if I was in shape."

* * *

Exasperated and out of options, Gohan elected to check in with the crowd at King Kai's planet. He disappeared again and reappeared a few feet behind Piccolo, floating cross-legged at eye level in meditation. His left ear twitched slightly when the Saiyan appeared, but he otherwise gave him no acknowledgment.

"I wondered when you'd get around to visiting." Piccolo said after a moment, only just now returning to the ground. "What's the occasion?"

"Yeah, sorry, I meant to come sooner." Gohan responded, half-embarrassed. "Kibito set us up with some sparring partners from another universe, so I've been looking for a someone to make the trip with Goten and me."

"And?"

"No luck on Earth. Gorra seemed interested but he turned me down in the end."

"So now you're here to see Uub."

"The Kais are skittish about taking him outside the universe. What do you think? Is he alright?"

"Honestly? Piccolo asked. "He's strong, but it doesn't look good."

"What's the problem?"

"Take a look." The pair floated high into the air until they could see the opposite side of the planet. There, beneath King Kai's lone tree, Uub was meditating alone, Kibito and the Supreme Kai studying him carefully from a distance. In contrast to Piccolo's peaceful meditative state, Uub's was clearly unsettled; his brow was furrowed, and the energy he was streaming off his body during the peaceful exercise was impossible to ignore.

"Well, he's definitely stronger." Gohan said flatly. "He's got some angst, but that's not that bad, is it? Are you seeing Buu in him?"

"Worse. I see me." Piccolo spat. "This planet's as peaceful as any place in the universe, but just look at him. He's all… _brooding_. He's nothing like you were at that age."

"Well, Uub's had it tougher than I did." Gohan noted. "Kid's never known anybody but warriors since he was a baby. Maybe we should let him go home for a while."

" _Tch_...Tried that already, the brat won't leave. Says he's not strong enough yet. Beerus put a pretty good scare in him, I guess."

"How's his control?" Gohan asked, finally getting to the point.

Piccolo finally took his attention off Uub and looked at Gohan through the side of his eye. "He'll be fine." He said. "After this much time, I'm a little insulted you have to ask. He's another Earthling imp, but he can handle himself just fine."

Gohan dropped to the ground and put his hand on Uub's shoulder, awakening him with a start as the kais walked up to join them. The boy was still young, but he stood up to Gohan's ribs now, and had added significant weight to his frame in the year since the two last saw one another. The round baby fat he had borne during Freeza's fight had all but vanished, and in it's place ran sinewy, vein crossed muscle.

"Hey buddy." The Saiyan said. "It's been a while."

"Yeah." Uub uttered, clearly annoyed at being jarred back to consciousness.

"What do you think?" Gohan asked the Kais.

"I'd prefer to wait, but time isn't on our side." the Supreme Kai responded. "It's time you were tested, Uub. We have a fight for you, if you'll take it."

"A fight?" Uub asked, finally perking up at the prospect and cracking a sly smile.

"I've been waiting for one."


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The Bear & The Beast

The crowd gathered around Gohan, and in a flash they were gone, back to the planet of the Kais. Upon their arrival, Goten immediately broke from a sparring session with his father and rushed over to Uub, tackling him into the grass.

Gohan examined the crowd around him and found the Supreme Kai fidgeting nervously. The Old Kai was observing the newcomer calmly, and Goku was beaming, no doubt at the obvious progress Uub had made.

"He's ready." Gohan reassured the old man. "Piccolo knows what he's doing."

"Uub will do fine." The Supreme Kai said, exhaling lightly to himself as he smiled at the boys rolling in the grass. "If we can't trust him in a sparring match, we certainly can't rely on him in a battle. Besides, we wouldn't want to disrespect our sister universe with anything but our best."

"Yes. We'd best be going if we don't want to keep them waiting." Kibito offered.

"Goten, let's go!" Goku yelled, to which the Saiyan and his human companion quickly complied.

The group gathered around Kibito, each placing a hand where they could find room on his massive frame, and vanished from sight.

"5…4…3….2…1!"

* * *

On the final count, Trunks threw his energy in front of his speeding body with all his might, trying as best he could to stop dead in his tracks. He failed, but stopped his drift shorter than in his previous attempts, this time a few thousand yards, still well within the confines of the small planet's atmosphere.

Reasonably pleased with himself, Trunks flew back to his starting point, where he reconvened with Whis.

"You've improved!" Whis praised. "If you can master the art of stopping, this skill becomes considerably less dangerous. Coming to a halt in outer space would likely be the end of you."

Trunks knew this, of course, but being patronized by Whis was part of the deal if he wanted his instruction, and today he desperately did. Finally, he had begun to master his energy, and his strength was skyrocketing. Impressed with his progress, Whis had finally agreed to teach him a new technique.

With this technique, he would have the speed and skill to travel anywhere in the universe – even between planets, without need of a ship. His speed would be incomparable to all others, and it wouldn't require condition of a target to latch on to that Goku's legendary technique carried.

"Remember, Trunks, the goal is to be in full control while you're rushing." The blue man droned again. "Once you've learned to adjust your coarse and stop at will, there is no limit to the places you'll be able to travel, and your speed will be nearly unmatched – over distances, at least."

Whis's last words weren't lost on Trunks, either. This technique was unmatched in it's speed and versatility, but it fell short in other areas. It would never be as fast as Goku's Instant Transmission, no matter hard he pushed, and worse, it was largely impractical as a battle maneuver. The technique required him to enter a state of "rushing" – essentially, a high-speed vortex, where his body's metabolism slowed to a crawl, allowing him ample time to travel across space with minimal oxygen. By the time he reached this speed, there wasn't a planet in existence large enough for him to contain it. If he intended to use it in a fight, he would have to leave and then return the planet's atmosphere, or else take his opponent with him. Neither option seemed particularly practical.

Still, there was no doubting it's usefulness in travel – or retreat, if necessary – and the allure of mastering such an advanced skill excited him greatly. Trunks checked to make sure his hair was still tied tightly behind his head, and fired off again.

* * *

Kibito reappeared with his allies on a thin bridge, just wide enough to hold them all. The bridge sat beneath a clear dome, the only thing separating them from the cold, dark expanse of space. On one end, there was nothing, only a dead end where it met the dome. On the other, a spiraling portal, glowing aqua blue.

"Well, let's not keep them waiting." The Supreme Kai said, and stepped into the portal. A quick look amongst themselves was the only hesitation the group gave, and a moment later, they passed through as well.

The other side was identical to it's predecessor, save for the addition of a tall, thin man. He was lean and old, sporting a thin, white mustache with long white hair to match Kibito's and blue skin to match the Supreme Kai's. He smiled warmly as the group appeared, and spoke quietly with the Supreme Kai, before extending his hand to the group in invitation. Without another word, the group linked again, and vanished once more.

This time, their reappearance was starkly different, as their senses were shocked at the sudden explosion of light and noise surrounding them. Up above them, a crowd packed tightly into bleachers exploded into cheers at their arrival, disorienting them further.

"Shen!" A fat, green man yelled as he waddled over toward them. "Thank you so much for coming!"

"Fuwa!" The Supreme Kai shouted back, and he rushed to meet him. "What's all this? I thought we were to have a private match!"

"Yes, I apologize!" Fuwa the fat Kai replied. "This is our Otherworld arena. We placed it here to keep out the living world, but it seems our Grand Kai has turned it into an event for our deceased residents! They've been worked up quite a bit!"

"Awesome!" Goten yelled, though Gohan scratched his neck anxiously beside him, and Uub grew visibly restless.

"Throwing us right into it…" Gohan noted to his father, who he found visibly shaking with excitement.

"I'm sorry all of our finest warriors couldn't be here!" Fuwa continued over the noise. "I wanted to give you our best to help train your warriors, but two of them are locked in a private dispute! These three should do nicely, though! There's one I think you'll find particularly impressive!"

"Let's not waste time!" Kibito shouted above the noise toward his superiors, fully conscious of Uub's state.

"Of course!" Fuwa shouted back. "Kibito, please relay the parameters to your team, I'll return to my own. Let's enjoy the show, Shen, I hope all the warriors impress!"

"Thank you, Fuwa!" the Supreme Kai replied, as the group turned to a thin staircase behind them, the crowd still loudly chattering up above them.

The group stepped inside the stairwell to block out the noise from the crowd.

"Quickly, here are the parameters:" Kibito began. "Killing is off limits, obviously. There are no ring-outs, all fights end with either surrender or 10 seconds of unresponsiveness, so recover quickly if you are put down. The Supreme Kai can also surrender on your behalf at any point, as can Fuwa for our opponents. Does everyone understand?"

The group nodded affirmatively, and the Supreme Kai spoke up.

"Uub, you'll be the first to fight. Are you ready?"

Uub gave no response, but only turned and walked purposely out of the stairwell. Goten gave the Supreme Kai a shrug, and the group continued up the stairs to their seats.

* * *

Uub stepped out onto the dirt floor coliseum and looked across to the opposite tower. Standing across the arena was a hulking golden bear clad in red armor, who quickly locked eyes with the boy and smirked confidently. Uub's only reply was a snarl on his lips, and a swirling of dust around his body. After a moment, Uub began to pace nervously back and forth in front of his tunnel, eyeing his opponent menacingly all the while.

"Man, Uub looks intense." Gohan said as the group settled into their booth some twenty yards above the arena floor. "He's prowling an animal."

"This place is awesome!" Goku yelled, drowning any response his son might've gotten. "This is way better than the World Martial Arts Tournament!"

Gohan looked around, and found that from a purely martial standpoint, it would've been hard to argue with his father. The arena floor was circular, about 50 yards in diameter, made of clay and sand, and surrounded on all sides by walls that went straight upward. Twenty yards off the floor were two booths, one on either side of the arena, with short-fenced balconies that hung over the arena floor. The opposite booth held their opponents, but was too far off to make out it's inhabitants. Twenty five yards from the ground, just above their booth, the walls of the arena gave way to bleachers that extended upward and out for three decks. It was a raucous, capacity crowd, and Gohan guessed the capacity at nearly 50,000, each one sporting a halo above their heads.

"Ladies and gentlemen of Otherworld!" a voice boomed from the speakers. "Thank you for coming to this friendly matchup between warriors of the living world, and warriors of our sister universe, Universe 7!"

The crowd again cheered wildly, but the voice boomed on, undeterred. "Fighting for Universe 7 is Uub, a human from planet Earth! And fighting for Universe 6 is Botamo, a Urisine from planet Hiber! Combatants, enter the arena!"

On cue, both fighters stepped out of their tunnels to uproarious cheers from the crowd. Once inside, Uub dropped to a knee and rubbed the sand between his fingers, examining it closely, before looking back up and locking eyes with his opponent. When he did, he found he could no longer hear the crowd.

The bear enormous, easily ten feet tall and over a thousand pounds. He stood in stark contrast to Uub, much to the crowd's pleasure, and he raised his arms in a show of strength, urging the crowd into a fever pitch. Uub bared his canines in response, and bore a low growl in his throat.

"The rules are simple!" the voice continued. "Each fight will continue until a fighter or his Supreme Kai surrenders! There are no ring-outs! This is a Friendly, so killing is not allowed! Any fighter who intentionally kills an opponent will be deemed an enemy of the world!"

"Enemy of the world?" Gohan asked.

"Begin!" The announcer bellowed, as Uub shot out of the sand.

* * *

Botamo hadn't yet lowered his arms when his eyes caught Uub's charge. He started to dodge, but failed, as Uub's fist collided squarely with his open jaw. Uub drove through his target, but knew he had failed as soon as he made contact.

Botamo made a late swing with his off arm to counter Uub, but the boy had already retreated to the opposite side of the ring, much to the crowd's confusion.

"What was that?" Goten asked aloud. "A punch like that should've knocked his teeth out!" He looked to his brother for confirmation, but both he and their father were staring harshly down at the arena floor, deep in thought.

"Is Universe 6 that strong?" Goten asked.

"No." Goku replied flatly. "But something's going on."

Down on the arena floor, Uub was rattled. He looked across at the armored behemoth openly taunting him, grinning without so much as a scratch on his jaw. Every fiber in his body told him to attack again, but he held his ground, studying his situation.

"I hit him clean, I know I did." The boy muttered. "But it didn't sink in. Why not? Why not…?"

Before Uub could think further, Botamo made his first move. Tall and fat, the bear came bounding over to him, literally bouncing off the arena floor at certain points, and in an erratic pattern, presumably designed to either corner or mesmerize his target.

What mesmerized Uub most, however, was how slowly his opponent moved. "Freeza would've killed him by now." He thought angrily. "If he could hit him."

By then, Botamo closed the gap and forced Uub's hand, so the boy rushed forward again and met him in the air between bounds, intent on firing into a combination. Uub's first blow again landed cleanly, but again Botamo's body absorbed the shock. Uub threw his right leg toward the bear's jaw to follow up, but was too late. The golden fighter grabbed his leg with his left paw, engulfed his head with his right, and raised the boy up high over his head.

"Not good." Gohan said uneasily.

"For which one of them?" Goku asked in response.

The bear smashed Uub down, cracking his back against his wide skull with all his might. Surprisingly, he didn't hear his spine crack, and so he tried again, and again, and again. He aimed to try a fifth time, but the boy let out a shriek and a sudden rush of energy enveloped the arena floor. Caught off guard, Botamo was shot from where he stood and sent crashing into the arena wall, leaving Uub in an awkward pile in the center of the arena.

"Whoa! Alright, Uub!" Goten yelled. "Do that again! Physical attacks won't work on this one."

"That kiai did land." Gohan noted, and looked to his father for assurance, but the old Saiyan just kept silently studying the arena floor.

"Is that it?" Uub asked himself again, as the bear peeled himself out of the hard rock wall. "Is it because I fired my energy instead of hitting you? Or because I caught you off guard?"

"Think you've figured it out, do you?" Botamo yelled as he rose back to his feet. "Go ahead and try what you're thinking! I've defeated a thousand warriors who thought they'd learned my secret!"

Uub fought the urge to fly off the handle again before making his decision. An open invitation was almost always a trap; he'd have known that much even if Piccolo hadn't drilled it into his head for years. Still, this was an opportunity to test his theory, and so he opted to return the taunt.

"One shot." The boy yelled back, extending his arm and raising one finger, much to the pleasure of the crowd. "One shot, and I'll drop you like the animal you are."

"Hey…" Goku said, drawing curious looks from his companions. "What? I never liked Freeza calling me a monkey. How's that any better?"

"Ha!" the bear scoffed, as he sunk his hips and opened his arms to reveal his exposed chest. "Take your shot, boy!"

Uub stood bolt upright and closed his eyes as he brought his right index finger to his forehead, where he held for nearly thirty seconds. Just as the crowd began to get restless, Uub's eyes snapped open, and he fired with a shout.

" _MAKANKOSAPPO!"_

The drill-like beam raced from Uub's fingertips with a hiss, but Botamo never moved.

"Uub, no!" Goten screamed. "You'll kill him!"

Uub never budged, however, and followed through as his attack landed squarely in the bear's chest, momentarily blinding the arena in a flash of light. Soon, however, the smoke had cleared and the hiss had subsided, and there stood Botamo, with only a hole in his armor to prove the attack had landed.

Botamo raised his arms again, and the crowd erupted once more for their champion. In the Universe 7 booth, the Supreme Kai was stewing.

"That Fuwa…" he said through gritted teeth. "We agreed to put our weakest fighters forward, and he goes and does this."

"But Supreme Kai," Kibito replied, "Fuwa has been our friend for centuries. Surely he wouldn't betray our trust now, with nothing to gain."

"That's not it." Goku interjected. "That bear guy's not that strong. Uub's the only one who's done any damage at all."

"Then what's going on, Dad?" Goten asked.

"I haven't figured it out." Goku replied, "But it's not a trick. He's got some kinda special ability."

* * *

Uub was shaken. Physically, he was fine; Botamo had given him four good hits, sure, but nothing worse than what he'd become accustomed to with Piccolo. Mentally, however, he was at a loss' his attacks were being completely neutralized, and his only profitable strike had come on a fluke when his opponent dropped his guard.

He thought of attempting a sneak attack, but was unsure how to go about it. The arena was small and well lit, his opponent now well aware of his strength, and he was still relatively inexperienced. His training had been devoted to defeating his foes, not subverting them, and his present environment left him little room for improvisation.

"Lost, boy?" the giant taunted again. "I'll let you in on a secret." Botamo motioned toward the crowd as he spoke, clearly playing to his audience.

"This idiot's gonna tell me how to kill him." Uub thought.

"You've got strong attacks, I'll give you that, and your spine's tougher than most, but you'll never be able to hurt me! Know why? I'm sending your attacks _to a different dimension!_ "

The crowd gave the appropriate "oohs" and "ahs" here, but Uub never flinched.

"That's right, boy!" He continued, "I open a door to another dimension when your attacks hit, and then they're gone forever! It's just a matter of time until I break you down!"

"This is gonna take forever…" Goku whined, to which Gohan looked over inquisitively. "Uub can't hit the bear guy unless he drops his guard, and the bear guy's too weak to hurt Uub more than a little bit at a time…"

Uub never wavered, but closed his eyes and thought for a long moment. Finally, he opened his eyes, and raised his finger once more.

"One more shot." He announced, to which Botamo laughed loudly. "One more shot and I'll kill you." The boy's eyes seemed to glow as he glared at the bear through pink bloodshot eyes.

"I'll cut you a deal, little man." Botamo responded. "One more shot, just like the last one. If you lay a scratch on me, I'll bow out. If not, you surrender."

"Deal."

Uub drew his finger to his brow again and fell into a deep trance, this time for a full minute. This time, the crowd never made a sound. Uub mustered every bit of energy he had, snapped opened his eyes, and fired.

" _Majin-kankosappo."_

The attack seemed to crawl out of his fingertip like molasses. It spiraled, as his previous attack had, but slowly and deliberately, and pale pink in color this time. Botamo was confused, but held his ground, and the attack hit him squarely in the chest again.

Botamo released his ability as naturally as ever, and the attack passed harmlessly through him and into the next dimension. And then it stopped. Botamo's eyes widened as he felt Uub's beam recoil, and crawl back through the hole he had created.

Botamo screamed as Uub's attack filled his body, but the boy kept his arm outstretched, a crooked smile growing on his face as Botamo's screamed grew louder and more desperate.

"That's…magic." The Supreme Kai stuttered in horror.

"What's going on?!" Fuwa the Kai screamed. "Surrender! We surrender! Stop this!"

"Universe 6 has surrendered!" The announcer boomed over the shocked crowd, but Uub never let up his attack. Botamo's screams only intensified, until they were drowning the coliseum.

Gohan and Goten appeared on either side of Uub, but still he kept up his attack. Gohan yanked his outstretched arm, shocking him back to his senses as Goten clasped his body tightly from behind and forced him away from Botamo. Uub's face bore pure bewilderment as Botamo's screams finally faded away, and he fell into the sand unconscious.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Mismatched

"Shen!" Fuwa screamed, appearing suddenly in the Universe 7 booth. "What are you doing? This is supposed to be a friendly!"

"I…I…" The Supreme Kai stammered, unable to calm his counterpart as the stunned silence of the crowd turned into a chorus of "boos" raining down from above their heads. "That wasn't our intention, I assure you!" he finally burst. "We've never seen that from him before!"

"I know that power, Shen!" Fuwa screamed back angrily. "That wasn't energy, it was magic – dark magic." When the Supreme Kai failed to issue a response, Fuwa spoke again, slightly more calmly. "What did you bring into my universe?"

"Uub…is our Chaos." The Kai finally uttered, scarcely able to look Fuwa in the eye as he said the words, the crowd around him perking up as he did.

Uub appeared in the doorway behind them, Goten and Gohan each with a hand firmly on his shoulder, but walking under his own power. His face bore confusion as he nervously examined his hands until his eyes fell on the conversing Kais.

"You brought that thing into _my_ universe?" Fuwa asked angrily.

"He's only a boy, Fuwa." The Kai continued. "This manifestation is very young – we're teaching him to control his power. It seems he still has a ways to go, but he's improved dramatically already."

"You want to train Chaos? Have you lost your mind?" Fuwa barked back. "You can't control Chaos, that's what makes it chaotic! And what if it had gotten loose in my universe? Two of them on the loose – the balance would be completely corrupted!"

"He was never in danger of 'getting loose'." Gohan said flatly. "Buu was strong, but I've stopped him before, and I can do it again."

The fat Kai eyed him skeptically. "You stopped your universe's Chaos?" he finally asked. Gohan nodded in reply, and the fat Kai thought for a moment, studying him carfully as he did before speaking again. "We'll continue. Send in your next fighter, Shen. I'm anxious to see your warriors."

With that, the fat Kai vanished from sight, leaving Universe 7's team to themselves.

* * *

Fuwa reappeared in the Universe 6 booth, where his assistant was treating a prone Botamo, still grimacing in pain as the other combatants looked on passively.

"You haven't healed him yet?" Fuwa asked impatiently.

"It's quite difficult." The thin Kai replied. "These are deep wounds, particularly for magical ones, and they made contact from the inside-out. A bit more and he would've died."

"Do what you can." Fuwa replied sharply, before surveying his two remaining combatants, each standing cross-armed in a different corner. One, a hulking robot-like creature with giant metal claws in place of hands; the other, a muscular, purple-skinned man with a long, grey tunic, and dark, red eyes.

"Magetta, you'll be fighting next." The Kai announced as the robot stood up to his full height and emitting a small puff of steam from the smokestack atop his head. "Listen to me: any fighter they put forth is capable of destroying a Chaos. They might kill you without even intending to. Act accordingly."

The giant robot only nodded his head and torso affirmatively, and began a pounding, methodical march down the stairwell.

* * *

"Goten, you'll be fighting next." The Supreme Kai said, regaining some of his composure as Uub's body language began to relax.

"Alright!" Goten screamed as his father massaged his shoulder excitedly.

"I won't tell you to hold back," the Kai continued, "Fuwa and his fighters understand the inherent risk in these events, but don't let them think you're toying with them. End it quickly."

"You got it." Goten said, furrowing his brow but wearing an excited smile on his face. "One punch."

* * *

"AND NOW!" The Announcer boomed more seriously than before as Goten and the Metal Man stepped out of their respective tunnels and faced off across the sandy floor of the arena. "Our second match is set to begin! Representing Universe Seven: Son Goten, a Human-Saiyan from planet Earth, and representing Universe Six, Auta Magetta, a Metal Man from planet Forge. Combatants, enter the arena."

Goten and Magetta marched toward the center of the arena as the volume of the crowd ringing overhead picked up steam. Goten walked quickly, deliberately, and confidently, his smirk never wavering from his face. Magetta paced much more slowly, each step crashing as it hit the ground, and a serious look in his glossy eyes.

"Begin!"

* * *

At the sound of the announcer's voice, Goten dropped into a classic stance, perfectly mirroring his father's as he stared down his opponent. If not for his short hair, he might've passed for his twin the day his father first fought Piccolo Jr. Magetta, for his part, anchored his hips and drew his arms into his body, and stared seriously back at the Earthling.

The two held still for a long moment until Goten, content that Magetta would not make the first move, dropped his guard and began pacing slowly, circling around to the Metal Man's left. As expected, Magetta pivoted slowly along with him, maintaining his straight-ahead stance.

"He's slow." Goten thought to himself, carefully evaluating the miniscule timing between his movements and his opponent's responses as he continued to slowly encircle him. "Not just compared to me – he's slower than Piccolo. And he's got some energy, but not _that_ much. So he's either hiding his power, or he hits with something tricky. And that big metal body of his can probably take a hit, too."

"So that's your game." Goten announced loudly, finally stopping his pacing and pointing at the robot. "You sit and wait for me to attack, then hit me with something tricky. You don't care about setting the pace, 'cuz if you miss, your armor can take the hit. That right?"

Magetta gave no response, but held fast, the only change in his demeanor a thin trail of smoke emanating from the top of his head.

"Well, let's do it then." Goten taunted. "Tell me when you're ready."

* * *

"That little fool…" the Supreme Kai fumed. "What did I tell him about toying with this fighter? If he keeps this up and overdoes it, he's liable to end up an Enemy of the World."

"What's an 'Enemy of the World'?" Gohan asked. "I heard the announcer say that, too."

"An Enemy of the World is an outlaw without rights." Kibito stated harshly. "Their lives are considered insults to the lives around them. Anyone can kill them without reason or repercussion, and high bounties are often placed on their corpses. They are hunted like animals for the rest of their lives."

"And you put Goten into that?!" Gohan barked in disbelief. "And Uub?! Are you crazy?"

"Fuwa is no fool." Kibito continued, as the Supreme Kai continued to fume silently at the arena floor. "Only the Supreme Kai and the Destroyer can issue that designation, would not do so without good cause, particularly against one of our Supreme Kai's men. Bad blood between universes would be catastrophic."

"Still…" Gohan said, regaining his composure. "Goten shouldn't play with fire like that."

* * *

Goten looked on curiously as Magetta's body began to shake, subtly at first, then quickly, and then violently, until the Saiyan could feel the earth beneath his feet quivering from the pressure of the gigantic man's gyrating mass. Magetta's smokestack began to gush smoke, and screamed like a train whistle as his vibrations quickened.

"Here it comes…" Goten said to himself, settling back into his defensive stance.

As he continued to shake, Magetta's body began to glow red with heat like a gigantic stove. Beneath the surface of his exoskeleton, lava began to build, creeping ever closer to the top with every shake.

"Come on…" Goten whispered.

Finally, Magetta reached his boiling point, and with a deep inhale that seemed to stop time in it's tracks, he screamed like a freight train, drowning out the raucous crowd as a flood of hot lava erupted from his mouth.

"There's the trick. It's lava, not energy." Goten said calmly, as the lava encompassed the sky overhead like a giant wave. It's width was more than enough to cover Goten's side of the arena, and dropped like a curtain on top of him, leaving him no avenue of escape.

Magetta finally stopped his scream and inhaled deeply again as he began to ready his second attack, confident as he was that the human was incapacitated. Before he could catch his breath, however, he looked down to see the tiny man standing at his feet, as if he had appeared out of thin air.

"Dodge the attack," Goten thought to himself as he drew his right arm back like an archer drawing an arrow, Magetta's eyes filling with horror as he did. "And break the armor."

Goten's fist glowed brightly in light blue aura as the Saiyan brought it back and gave a Herculean swing into the Metal Man's torso. Magetta's train whistle flooded the arena, and then suddenly fell silent, as Goten's knuckles came flush to his metal.

 _CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH_

The arena fell silent, leaving only the hiss of hot metal in it's place as smoke flooded the arena floor, concealing the combatants from sight.

* * *

"Incredible." Kibito gasped, as Goku beamed happily beside him. Gohan looked at the Supreme Kai, shaking uncontrollably, and then to Uub, who's lip had curled into a snarl. Finally, he examined himself, and found every hair on his arms standing on end, and his skin covered in chills.

Fuwa's jaw dropped involuntarily as he looked on from his booth above the floor, as did his attendant's and the newly healed Botamo's. The purple man in the corner never moved a muscle.

* * *

When the smoke finally cleared, Goten was standing over Magetta's prone body, the robot's torso shattered into bits.

"Ahhh…" Goten spat in horror, "I broke you! I thought your armor was strong! I'm sorry! Are you alive?"

Magetta failed to issue a response, but his clenched eyes gave away that he was, in fact, alive, though clearly in immense pain.

"Move aside!" Fuwa's attendant barked, suddenly appearing on the arena floor and brushing Goten away. The thin Kai worked quickly, gathering shattered bits of metal with one hand, and placing the other firmly on the Metal Man's sides, the crowd overhead still in stunned silence.

"I'll help you, Sho." Kibito said, suddenly appearing and going to work as well. "Goten," he continued. "Go back to the booth. Now!"

Shocked at Kibito's sudden sternness and unsure how to respond to the shock of the situation, Goten obeyed, locking on to his brother's familiar energy and disappearing from sight.

* * *

" _Shen!_ Fuwa screamed, bursting into the chaotic booth and storming toward his counterpart, prompting Goku to step in front of the smaller Kai. "You bring now Chaos into my universe and now this?!"

"Let me explain!" the Supreme Kai exclaimed, but to no avail, as the Universe 6 Supreme Kai kept up his furious assault.

"Explain!? Explain how that boy is able to use god energy!? That blow had enough power to kill everyone in this arena, including us!"

"Fuwa, that would never happen!" Shen protested. "Goten has been trained his entire life, and under my watch for three years now, he would never endanger innocent lives!"

"You taught him that?! You really have lost your mind!" Fuwa asked accusingly. "What kind of Kai puts others at risk like this? This match is over, get out of my universe before I start naming your monsters Enemies of the World."

"Fuwa, listen to me…" The Supreme Kai pleaded, but to no avail.

"I'm done listening to you, Shen. The next one you bring out might be the devil himself. Go home, I told you, this match is over."

"Quiet."

Lost in the chaos of the scene before them, no one had noticed the cloaked man enter the room, and only did so now as his voice broke their concentration. He was leaned against the wall in the dimmest corner of the room.

Instinctively, Goku and Gohan shot to the front of the crowd and ushered to others behind them. Goten, was slower to react, but soon pushed himself to his father's right, opposite his brother. Uub, for his part, never moved, but stood quietly in the back, carefully studying the stranger.

Surprise turned into anger for Fuwa as he turned to face the newcomer. "What did you say?" he snarled.

"I said 'Be quiet'." The purple man said coolly, as he examined the Saiyans before him. "There is still one more match."

"You want in on this?" Fuwa scoffed. "You saw what these monsters did to those other too. We don't have any business competing with this universe."

"Don't compare me to weaklings." The man hissed, before shifting his eyes past Goku to the Supreme Kai standing behind him. "Send your warrior."

The Supreme Kai kept his silence for a long moment, unsure of how to respond, before finally deciding to decline. "No…no, Fuwa has stopped the match, we have to respect his decision. There is no final match."

"Supreme Kai…" Gohan said, looking at him through the corner of his eye. He didn't speak further, but his message was made clear by the firmness of his voice and his steadily climbing energy.

"There's your answer." The stranger said with a quick smirk as he turned toward the balcony. "Don't keep me waiting." With that, he stepped over the ledge, and disappeared form sight.

"Errr…." Fuwa snarled. "Shen, is your next fighter as strong as the last?"

"I believe so." Shen replied. "They're fairly close, but I tried to save my best for last as you requested."

"Good." Fuwa replied angrily. "Maybe he'll kill mine by mistake."

* * *

Gohan and the stranger stood in their respective tunnels eye one another carefully. The stranger leaned casually against the stone wall studying the Saiyan, while Gohan stood upright and returned his stare.

Up above them, the crowd was growing increasingly disturbed, having switched from cheering to booing to violently screaming. Kibito eyed them worriedly from the loft as he feared another violent loss for their universe might spur them into a full-on riot. With Gohan in the arena, that seemed a distinct possibility.

"We are now prepared to begin our third and final match." The announcer declared in a flat, monotone voice. Any bit of energy his voice had carried earlier was gone, replaced by an all-business drone of information. "The fighter from Universe Seven is Son Gohan. He is a Human-Saiyan from Earth."

At the mention of their enemy, the crowd roared again, screaming and booing harshly down at the arena floor, causing Goten to wince at the sudden outpour of vitriol.

"Man…" he whined, "I didn't mean to get 'em that stirred up…"

"The Universe Six fighter is Hit." The announcer continued. "His race and home planet are unknown. Combatants, enter the arena."

* * *

"I'm ready for this to be over…" the Supreme Kai stated nervously.

"As am I." Kibito agreed. "I do not care for this new fighter, either. I certainly hope Gohan ends this quickly."

"You guys're no fun." Goten laughed as he hung loosely over the ledge. "Gohan's gonna be awesome. Right, Uub?"

"No," Uub replied softly, causing Goten to turn his head in disbelief. "Gohan will lose."

"What?" Goten asked, half-shocked and half-offended. "Gohan's not gonna lose. Why would you say that?"

Uub only gestured his head slightly toward the purple man below, and kept his eyes fixated tightly on him. "He's strong. I can smell it."

"Dad?" Goten pleaded to his father, but Goku was as resolute as Uub, focused on the stranger below. He gave no answer, save for a small, nervous growl deep in his throat.

* * *

"Begin."

On the announcer's cue, Gohan dropped into a defensive stance, his right forearm drawn across his body as Piccolo had taught him decades ago. Hit, for his part, never budged until Gohan had resettled, and only then began a slow, methodical walk toward the center of the ring, his hands never leaving the pockets of his tunics.

"Tell me." The stranger said, only audible thanks to a sudden chilling in the crowd's volume, the pressure of the match seemingly coaxing them to silence. "You wanted to fight me. Tell me why."

"You're good." Gohan replied, never dropping his guard, but letting out an uneasy smile. "You hide your power well. My brother's no fool, but he couldn't pick it up. Bu my father did, and so did I."

"That's not what I asked you." Hit said flatly, now standing squarely in the center of the arena.

"There's someone I have to fight." Gohan growled. "And there are people I have to protect. I have to know how strong monsters can be – how far away I am from the top."

"Then come." The stranger said, and allowed a brief whirl of invisible energy to encompass his body, momentarily blowing his tunic behind him like a gust of wind.

Gohan dug his feet into the dirt and gave a low yell, an invisible aura of his own encompassing his body, though far more aggressively than his predecessor's. His low growl grew into an audible push, until suddenly he exhaled, and his aura grew still and smooth.

" _aaaaaAAAHHHHH….haaaaaa"_

Hit never moved, but kept watch with great interest as Gohan's energy spiked and then suddenly flat lined. He made no move, but only met the Saiyan's gaze. "Right from the start, then." He thought, "The last one only used this energy for a single strike."

Gohan made his move. He threw a quick blast at the stranger's feet, blowing sand in front of his face to screen himself sight, and charged forward at full speed. The sand was still traveling upward from the blast when Gohan hit his mark, but suddenly feinted away. Hit never moved, his hands still buried in his pockets.

Gohan landed back where he had begun, some 20 yards away, with cold sweat now staining his brow. "What was that?" he asked himself. "I had him! Why didn't I close in?"

"Why do you run?" Hit asked aloud, sending a shiver down Gohan's back. "Come find your answer."

* * *

"What's wrong with Gohan?" Goten asked his father. Goku gave no answer, but only gritted his teeth nervously, his arms crossed tightly across his torso.

"Uub?" Goten asked in desperation. "You said Hit smells strong, what's Gohan smell like?"

"Fear." Was Uub's only reply.

"Gohan's never afraid. Remember how he stared down Freeza?" Goten objected.

Uub shook his head. "I've never smelled fear on Gohan before."

* * *

"Come find my answer?" Gohan's mind rang. "Is he taunting me?"

Gohan continued to study his opponent nervously, as Hit stood unmoving in the center of the ring. "He's stronger than me, no doubt about it." The Saiyan thought to himself. "But he's putting off energy all over this ring, whether he means to or not. If I keep locking onto it, I can use Transmission to get anywhere around here; there's no way he's faster than me."

No sooner had that thought crossed his mind than Gohan phased out of sight, reappearing on the opposite side of the arena. No sooner had he reappeared, than he was gone again. And again. And again. Time and time again the Saiyan appeared only to vanish just as quickly, in and out of sight, each time an unpredictable distance from his target. All the while, Hit stood his ground, his eyes fixed forward.

Finally, Gohan saw his opening. He reappeared only ten steps behind his target and charged forward with all his might, convinced his opponent was primed to counter. An inch from arm's reach, he phased out again, reappearing directly in front of the purple warrior, his arm already drawn and aglow for a strike identical to his brother's.

"Gotcha." The Saiyan thought, and swung his arm at full force for the stranger's jaw, intent on blowing it away from his skull. "Show me the answer!"

"Gohan!" Goku screamed, to no avail. Goten could utter no such response, but only held his head in his hands in disbelief.

* * *

Gohan's eyes widened as his blood ran cold. His fist never reached it's mark, and when he tried to catch his breath, he found that he could not. He fell face first into sand and lay still, unable to move an inch.

Kibito was on the ground in an instant, his hands immediately on Gohan's back. Less than a second behind him was Goten, straddling his brother's prone body, his teeth bared like a dog and a growl in his throat.

"They think you're dead," Hit said, only audible to those on the arena floor as the crowd erupted overhead. "But you're heart is only frozen for the moment. You will live; now you have your answer." With that, he turned and walked back toward his tunnel.

"Hey!" Goten screamed over the crowd's volume. "I'm not done with you!"

Gohan's sudden stirring interrupted Goten's impassioned rant, forcing the younger Saiyan to drop to his knees as Gohan coughed breath back into his lungs.

Hit never so much as turned his head to address the Saiyans, but kept his steady march back into his tunnel, and out of sight.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Hit Job

"Well?" Botamo asked, as Hit passed him through the doorway of the stone tunnel.

Hit met his gaze, but gave no other reply.

"Did you get what you came for?" The bear asked, smiling wryly as the purple man passed him by.

"He's strong." The purple man answered. "They are all strong."

"That's it?" Botamo asked again. "An assassin like you went to all this trouble just to see if the other universe had strong people? You didn't even kill him."

"My motives are none of your concern." Hit returned as he rounded a corner in the hall, and vanished from sight.

When Gohan came to, he was back inside the Universe Seven balcony, the crowd outside still cheering wildly for their champion's victory. The entire crew he had arrived with was there, as was Fuwa, who stood in the corner conversing quietly with the Supreme Kai.

"I apologize." The fat Kai said, "Perhaps I judged you too harshly. You're always welcome in the Sixth Universe. Still, I beg you, be careful with these Earthlings, Shen."

"Trust me, Fuwa." The smaller Kai replied, "My universe is set for turmoil, these Earthlings are my best hope to save it. Thank you for helping me prepare them."

The fat Kai nodded uneasily, bowed lowly, and then disappeared from sight.

"Supreme Kai, let's be going." Kibito said, to which the smaller Kai nodded in reply. Gohan had yet to rise to his feet when the crowd circled around him and disappeared, reappearing a moment later at the portal gate through which they had entered, this time unaccompanied.

* * *

Goten and Goku helped Gohan to his feet, and together the group crossed the threshold, and stepped back into the Seventh Universe. Immediately thereafter they reformed, and transported themselves one last time to the Planet of the Kais.

"Ugh…" Gohan moaned, sitting down and leaning back against a tree as he held his head. "Dad, what happened out there? I had him, and then the next thing I knew I was back on the balcony with all of you…"

"I'm not sure what his technique was," Goku replied contemplatively, "but whatever he did, he did it fast, and he hit hard enough to put you down with one blow. That guy was incredible."

"Could you have taken him, Dad?" Goten asked.

"Ahhh, I don't know," Goku replied, rubbing the back of his head. "Sure would've been fun to try, though. You guys all looked great out there! Especially you, Goten! That punch was amazing!"

"Right?!" Goten replied back, completely indifferent to his brother's misery. "I was all… _SHHHOOOOM_ "

Gohan tuned them out as they began to reenact his little brother's fight, and laid his head back against the trunk of the tree, and fell into a light sleep. Not long after, he cracked open his eyes to see his father and brother shadow boxing, as well as Kibito and the Old Kai huddled around Uub, practicing some sort of unfamiliar motions. Finally, he saw the Supreme Kai seated next to him.

"Sorry I let you down." The Saiyan said. "Everybody else won, I wish I could've, too."

"Nonsense." The Supreme Kai replied. "You fought well, that's all I could ever ask."

"I wanted to know how strong people can be." Gohan replied. "Not counting Dad and Goten, Freeza's the strongest guy I've ever fought. That guy wouldn't have broken a sweat against him."

"There are many universes, and each of them is incredibly vast." The Kai replied. "You may be very near the pinnacle of this one, but still very far from the top of the world."

"Do you think I'll get there in time?" he asked, but the Kai gave no response. "What? If you don't think I'll make it, just tell me so I can start accepting it." He was halfway joking, but the Kai's strange demeanor made him genuinely nervous.

"I don't want to disappoint you…" the Kai said, practically whispering.

"But?" the Saiyan asked.

"We're going with Goten."

* * *

"Oh, don't go hurrying off in a fuss!" the Old Kai yelled as Gohan, clearly peeved at his dismissal, prepared to take Uub and leave the Planet of the Kais. "At least say a proper goodbye to an old man, would you?"

Agitated but unable to deny the geezer, Gohan reached out and shook the old man's hand, only to find something inside it. When he opened his hand back up, Gohan saw two small golden orbs the old Kai had passed him.

"What are these?" Gohan whined in irritation.

"Kai earrings!" the old Kai replied. "This is an opportunity for you!"

"It feels more like a demotion."

"Not with those!" the old man continued, "Put one on your left ear and the other on Goten's right, and we've got a Super Saiyan! A _Super_ Super Saiyan!"

"Fusion earrings?" Gohan asked skeptically. "For how long?"

"That's the best part!" the old man yelled excitedly. "They're permanent!"

One look at Goten was all it took to confirm his own feelings, as both brothers scowled sarcastically at one another. "Yeah…I don't think we're that desperate Old Kai." Gohan said. "Plus, I think my wife would kill be before Beerus ever got the chance."

"Yeah!" Goten interjected. "Besides, we've still got four years 'til Beerus wakes up. Imma be waaay stronger by then! I'll be able to beat him on my own."

"Sure, sure, sure…" the old man said as he waved them away. "Just keep them with you. Situations change, you may change your mind as well. Just have them ready."

Gohan was positive such a day would never come, but nodded in agreement all the same.

"Well," he said to the group. "Thanks for all the help, everybody. I'll keep training anyways. Dad, Goten:"

The two Saiyans approached him, each putting a hand on his shoulder and looking deeply into his eyes for a long, heartfelt moment. Then Goten could carry on the act no further and tackled his brother to the ground, with Goku all too eager to follow suit.

"Alright, enough!" Gohan yelled, finally able to wrestle himself free after nearly a full minute of the dog pile. "I can come back any time, it's not like I'm never gonna see you guys. Uub, let's go."

Gohan put his hand on top of Uub's head, gave a final smirk and a wave to his family, and vanished from sight.

* * *

" _Aaahahahaha…!_ "

Gohan stood dumbfounded as Piccolo laughed. Uub stood next to him, openly slackjawed at the sight. Neither had ever seen the Namekian let out more than a light chuckle. They both found it utterly horrifying.

" _He cut you?!"_ Piccolo continued " _You_!? The golden boy who saved him from Buu? You're his favorite, what'd you do, shave off his Mohawk while he asleep?!"

"I got my butt handed to me." Gohan replied shyly. "Goten was awesome. Didn't even let on he could use kai energy until he threw his first punch, and that was all it took. I used it right from the get-go, and I'm still not sure how I ended up on the ground. I was hoping you'd be a little more sympathetic, honestly."

"What's to be sympathetic about? Your little brother outworked you and it showed when your big day came – don't say I didn't warn you." Piccolo replied, regaining some modicum of composure. "Still, that's not much of a reason to quit on you entirely. He didn't give you any more reason than that?"

"Well, everybody pretty much agrees I've got more potential, but he said since neither of us were going to hit our full potential before Beerus wakes up, it's better to go with the one who's making more progress. Can't say he doesn't have a point."

"And he doesn't think you can help?"

"We're both still new to this energy; we can't use it for too long, and we're a long way from feeling like Super Saiyans when we do. He wants to give Dad's full attention to Goten so he can master it in time."

"I see." Piccolo replied. "The Supreme Kai isn't a fool, if he's going with Goten it's because he believes it's the best option, not to punish you. I wouldn't take it personally. Any other news?"

"Oh, yeah." Gohan responded, suddenly remembering a rather major detail. "Uub used magic! Kibito and Old Kai worked with him some, but they want you start training him up on that, too."

"Magic is weak." Piccolo replied, completely unsurprised by the revelation. "I use mine to make clothes and hourglasses; even Buu didn't use it in his last battles."

"Look, I'm just the messenger," The Saiyan retorted, "but it was pretty impressive. Just coach him up, see what's there. It's at least useful as a changeup move."

"Err…fine…" the Namek relented. "What about you?"

"Well, I'll stay in shape at least, but there's no reason to train with anybody but Dad since nobody else can use kai energy, and if we try to gang up on Beerus he'll just destroy half the universe on the spot. Guess I'll go home and help look after the place."

"Good, keep an eye on the place." Piccolo replied. "But come back before long. Uub needs someone who can force him to get serious, and there's only so much I can do."

"You got it." Gohan replied as he placed his hand on his forehead and vanished again.

* * *

Three weeks later, Trunks and Whis were up late into the night, making final preparations for their mission. Months of pleading, threatening, and demanding had finally culminated in this night, and Trunks was bound ensure it went well.

Whis's skill as a trainer was undeniable. Trunks could feel in his bones how much stronger he had become – incomparably stronger than before. So much so, in fact, he had begun to doubt if there was anyone alive short of a Destroyer or Whis himself that could stand against him.

Whis would not allow arrogance, however; Trunks's effort never flagged in the slightest. What the thought gave birth to, instead, was boredom. Day after day, Trunks labored in obscurity, no one alive save for Whis aware of his whereabouts, and day after day, his body grew incrementally stronger. His routine was monotonous, grueling, and mind-numbingly dull, and it carried on into perpetuity until one day he finally snapped.

"Enough!" he had screamed, throwing the ridiculous oversized suit off his body as he did, leaving himself in nothing but his tattered training pants. "I've worked, I've asked, I've done everything but get on my knees and beg! It's been three years of this! _Three years!_ Give me a real challenge or I'm out!"

"Very well." Whis had said, so nonchalantly you might've thought it was the first he'd heard of it, and had only been awaiting the request to reveal itself.

And so it was arranged. Whis had scoured the universe for the most difficult task he could find befitting Trunks's training – and found nothing. In the end, this only interested the Saiyan further, as it meant he would now be crossing into another universe entirely.

"You're sure you're ready?" Whis asked one last time, doting, like a mother sending her eldest child away from home for the first time. "You must make a good impression. It is of the utmost importance to me.

"I'll try not to embarrass you." The young man responded. His hair had grown long now, long enough to reach his shoulders, but he had tied it neatly behind his head, and shaved for the first time in months. Whis had supplied him with a restored outfit, identical to the one he had arrived in at the last World Martial Arts Tournament with Tien, right down to the cape and forearm sleeves.

"Very well." Whis said. "Let's be going. It's your mission, you lead the way."

"Where am I going?"

"The 9th portal."

Whis placed his hand on Trunk's shoulder, and the Saiyan crouched forward like a sprinter. He fired forward, and they were off, surrounded by a vortex of emptiness as they hurled across the universe.

They arrived on an empty platform, floating alone in the middle of space, with a spiraling blue portal in front of them. Trunks took a moment to catch his breath, but otherwise showed no fatigue from the effort.

"This is where I leave you." Whis said. "Your guide will be waiting on the other side."

"It's too bad you can't come with me my first time across a portal." Trunks said, smiling. "Someday you'll be able to."

"Don't torture me." Whis said in reply, as Trunks gave a two-fingered farewell wave, and stepped into the Trunks stepped through the portal, he was greeted on the other side by a strangely familiar face. He had never met the woman, but her presence was calming, as though he'd known her for years.

"Vados?" he asked.

"So Whis did tell you." She replied. "What else did he say?"

"Just that you're his sister and you look after Beerus's brother." Trunks explained.

"Indeed. Both Beerus and Champa sleep quite a lot, so it seems we both have a bit of time for you."

"I appreciate it." Trunks said as politely as he could.

"Let's be going." Vados ordered gleefully. "I understand you've nearly mastered rushing, but you don't know this universe or where we're going, so please take my shoulder."

Trunks said nothing, but obeyed dutifully, and in a flash the two were off.

"Since Whis didn't tell you your mission, I'll explain now:" The woman said. "In short, our universe has undergone a war, and we'd like to change the outcome. Normally I'd awake Champa to address this, but as a last resort, we're letting you and a few other mortals have first shot at correcting things. I'd ordinarily limit it to our universe, but I've included you as a favor to Whis."

"A war?" Trunks asked.

"Mmmhmm!" She said, smiling brightly despite the topic at hand. "The Acrosians and the Saiyans."

"We have both of them in our universe. What happened?"

"The Acrosians in our universe are particularly aggressive. They've controlled most of three galaxies for years, but weren't ever able to travel too far south due to a celestial chokepoint where the Saiyans live. Not that I care for the Saiyans – what with their small minds and pension for violence – but they kept the Acrosians at bay, so we stayed away, hoping they might rid the world of the Acrosians without our interference."

Trunks was thoroughly offended, but kept it to himself through gritted teeth, allowing Vados to continue.

"Until recently, at least. The Acrosians launched a large-scale assault on planet Meat, and after a year of war, finally conquered it. They even killed their king and the entire royal line – a tragedy, even for barbarians like the Saiyans. The survivors have all been enslaved and converted to soldiers in the Acrosian army.

"Planet Meat is now the rallying point for the Acrosian army until they rebuild their fleet to take the South Galaxy. If they succeed, the entire universe will fall under Acrosian tyranny. So, this is where you come in: the Acrosian leader is a man named Chill. Kill him, and you'll spark a rebellion from the Saiyans and other enslaved planets, and without him in the fight, the Saiyans should be able to break them."

"Kill a Freeza clone?" Trunks asked excitedly. "That's easy. I've done it once already."

"One catch." Vados elaborated. "We make it a point to keep our intervention as discreet as possible. Kill him, but do it unseen, and make it look natural if at all possible."

"I get it." Trunks said to himself as much as Vados, "The mission is stealth. Don't worry, this'll be easy."

"Aaaaand we're here!" Vados said excitedly, suddenly stopping in the middle of space, giving Trunks virtually no time to catch his breath.

"Planet Meat is right over there!" She said, gesturing at a small planet in the distance. "Good luck!"

And then she was gone, leaving Trunks floating alone in space, unable to even scream a protest after her. Trunks gritted his teeth in frustration, but quickly refocused, locked onto the distant planet, and rushed forward, toward the largest power he could find.

In an instant he had touched down, nearly crashing into a tall war-torn building as he did. It was dead of night on Planet Meat, and a quick survey of the city revealed practically no movement on the planet whatsoever.

After several minutes of surveillance, Trunks found some subtle spats of commotion coming from a few heavily armored soldiers patrolling the streets, none of which represented any threat to him. He crept through the night like a thief between the allies, stopped beneath a high tower, and then lurched upward into the air, silent as the night itself.

Trunks perched atop the tower in silent study, the occasional breeze causing his cape to billow serving as his only differentiator from a statute. Finally satisfied there had been no detection on his entry, he shut his eyes and sought out the largest power he could find.

* * *

Gohan appeared outside of the Capsule Corporation, to his own surprise. He had taken to locking onto large Earthling powers at random, and while at first that had landed him at Kame House with Krillin, in recent times he had always been among the Wolves. The surprise was in finding them here, of all places, so he took the time to step inside to investigate.

The halls were long and quiet, but he knew them well, and by simply following the four bulging power levels ahead of him, he reached them fairly quickly.

The four Wolf students stood side by side in a large room of computers, each one shirtless with chords suctioned to their torsos and arms. To Gohan's left were Naken and Nein, their chords running to a monitor Dr. Briefs was examining closely; to his right stood Hammur and Gorra, with Bulma doing likewise.

"Any change?" Hammur asked, ignoring Gohan's presence.

"You've added a bit of muscle mass." Dr. Briefs replied, "But your resting heart rates have quickened a bit. That concerns me…"

"Umm…hey guys…" Gohan sputtered.

"Oh, hey, Gohan." Bulma said, before turning her attention back to her monitor.

"What, uh…what're you guys up to?"

"Scientific performance enhancement!" Dr. Briefs announced cheerfully.

"Uh huh…" Gohan replied, utterly confused. He examined the room closely until he found a small bottle and a syringe sitting next to one another on a table. He walked over curiously and picked up the bottle to read the label.

"What the…anabolic steroids!" He gasped, causing the four Wolves to fidget nervously. In the year since Freeza arrived they had all changed dramatically, but as often as he had seen them, this was the first time Gohan fully took notice of the difference in their bodies.

"What are you guys doing to them?" The Saiyan continued.

"Only what they've asked." The doctor replied, half-amused at the outrage.

"Okay, slow down…" Gohan said to calm himself more than anyone else. "Which one of you is the oldest?" Nein gave a low wave in reply. "Ok, and how old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"Eighteen." Gohan repeated, looking back at Dr. Briefs. "And you've charted their hormones?"

"Oh, not in any way you'd understand." The doctor replied.

"Try me." Gohan dared. Dr. Briefs sighed, and gestured the Saiyan over as he changed his monitor to reveal a series of complicated graphs and figures, charting the physical state of his patients over the last few months. Gohan studied it for a long moment before speaking again.

"You're sick. These are kids, their bodies can't take this."

"We know what we're doing." Hammur butted in. "This is the only way we make progress anymore; it's worth it."

Gohan started to argue, but turned to Bulma instead. "You're part of this?"

"It's safe." She said, though a slight catch in her voice took Gohan aback for a moment. "We're just trying to help."

"Guys, you've gotta be kidding me." Gohan pleaded to the Wolves. "Tell me you're smarter than this."

"It's the Briefs, Gohan." Naken pleaded. "They wouldn't hurt us."

"Can we have a minute?" Gohan asked over his shoulder. Dr. Briefs immediately left, but Bulma lingered a moment nervously, before nodding her head and following suit.

"Guys, what is going on?" the Saiyan asked again. "I know the Briefs wouldn't hurt you on purpose, but they wouldn't be giving this to you at all if something wasn't off."

"We need the help…" Naken offered again, to the chagrin of his comrades. "We've done everything: Time Chamber, Korin's water, trained under different masters…"

"It's been one year!" Gohan yelled, exasperated. "Why are you so desperate?"

"Beerus." Nein said flatly.

"We were completely overwhelmed." Hammur added.

Another awkward silence followed, before Gohan finally broke it. "I get it. I really do. But Bulma knows better then this, why is she helping you?"

Silence was the only response he received. Gohan looked from one man to the other, more exasperated than ever before. "Fine." He finally said. "Look, I'm not gonna tell you not to try to get stronger, but you can't do this to yourselves. I'll cut you a deal, but that stuff stops today."

The foursome looked to one another for reassurance, and then nodded at Gohan for him to continue. "Here." He said, stretching out a clenched fist to Gorra, so which the human reciprocated. When Gorra drew his hand back in, he opened his palm to reveal two small brass earrings, which the group studied them with great curiosity.

"They're Kai earrings." Gohan explained. "I've never seen them in action, but according to the Elder Kai, they'll make any fusion permanent. You could become Okami without ever having to diffuse."

"What if we don't want to stay Okami permanently?" Hammur asked.

"I wouldn't blame you; Goten and I just turned them down. But think about it, it beats wrecking your bodies in that science lab, and it'll probably give you more power than anything they could do to you anyway."

The group was silent for a long while, before Naken finally spoke up. "Thank you, Gohan. You have our word."

"Then I'll trust you." The Saiyan replied, and disappeared again.

* * *

Trunks crept outside a towering structure he assumed was the capital building, drawn by the massive power emanating from within. Unable to find an opening, he looked through an uncovered window and, seeing that it was unguarded, placed an open palm on top of it. A swift kiai sufficiently shattered the glass, and before any of the shards to hit the ground, the Saiyan had gathered them in his hand and dropped them silently into the grass outside.

Trunks sped through the halls with nary a sound to mark his progress. Several times he passed guards, and before any of them were aware of the intruder, they were left lying incapacitated, hidden from view by some structure or tucked away in some closet. Trunks's progress was methodical, speeding through the halls and up the stairs of the building with blinding speed, until he found himself outside of a massive iron double door, already cracked open slightly.

Trunks stepped inside without a sound, and pressed his back against the door to close it with a soft " _clung"_. The room was littered with debris, primarily of office material, and the glass that had once made up the far wall was completely shattered and scattered across the floor – a clear sign of a struggle.

The only undamaged piece of furniture still standing was a large desk made of cedar-like wood in the center of the room with a heavy leather chair behind it. The chair was turned toward the open air where the glass had once been, but the energy emanating from it would've given it's occupier away, even if his tail hadn't been laid lazily over one arm of the chair.

Trunks gave a slight grin, but no further hesitation. With nary a sound he fired off the ground and launched toward the Acrosian, drawing his right hand back and laying it flat for the kill – and then froze.

Trunks hung helplessly in the air as the world around him grew still. Neither he, nor the Acrosian he had targeted were able to make a move for what seemed like an eternity.

Out of the corner of his eye, Trunks watched a tall, dark figure in a long trench coat enter the room from the left of the open glass, and walk calmly toward the Acrosian. Without a sound, he extended his right arm to the Acrosian's chest and thrust his fist sharply. The Acrosian never made a sound nor moved a muscle, but Trunks felt the final throb of his heart reverberating through his ears.

Horrified, Trunks couldn't stop the cold sweat from pouring down his back as the stranger's gaze met his own. They sat there, transfixed on one another for a long moment, until finally Trunks could move again, and fell to the floor helplessly as he gasped for breath.

"It's time to go, Trunks." He heard a woman's voice say, as he looked up to see Vados standing over him. Trunks jerked his eyes back to the front of the room, but the stranger had disappeared. The only evidence he had ever appeared was the prone tail of the Acrosian, still drooping over the arm of the chair.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Duality

"Come here, son." Vegeta said, beckoning Trunks toward him.

He recoiled, as he always did, but his father drew him close all the same.

"Trunks, there's something you must know. You've made me proud, my son."

It ended the same as it always did. A swift flash in the periphery of his vision, and then his eyes were open, back in his bed, in the dead of night, on some far, far away planet.

Trunks stood on the balcony of the castle overlooking the lake, wearing nothing but the cape Tien had given him and a pair of ragged white pants. He stood motionless overlooking the water for nearly an hour before Whis found him and slowly approached him from behind.

"Having that dream again?" the blue man asked, leaning slightly against his tall orbed staff.

"Same as always." Trunks replied, his shoulder-length hair hanging loosely in front of his face.

"What do you think it means?" Whis asked.

Trunks thought for a long moment, until Whis thought he would get no reply, as was the norm. Tonight, however, Trunks elected to speak. "My father loved me, in his own way, at least; I never doubted that. I never would've thought I'd made him proud, though."

"Why not?" Whis pressed.

"He was a warrior – a prince of a race of warriors. I was a snot-nosed rich kid in my first battle. What was there to be proud of?"

"Perhaps he found his pride in other things."

"No." Trunks persisted. "He was proud of how I'd fought, but he wouldn't have told me if he hadn't known he was about to die."

"Why did he have to die?" Whis asked, genuinely curious. "You've never told me."

"He probably didn't, looking back at it." Trunks said, "But he couldn't have known that. He saw a monster coming for the people he loved, and he was ready to do anything stop him, so he gave everything he had. I guess when you're about to do something like that, you want to make sure you've said everything you have to say."

Whis didn't reply, but gave Trunks another long moment with his thoughts. Finally, the Saiyan spoke again.

"Thank you, Whis. For everything." He finally said, before slipping past him, back into the darkness of the castle.

* * *

"Sure you want to do this?" Piccolo asked as Gohan shirked his shirt in favor of a white wife beater and began to limber up.

"I told you I have to stay in shape." Gohan replied. "Besides, the kid needs the work, just be thankful for the sparring partner."

Six months had passed since Gohan's eviction from the planet of the Kais, but he was as imposing as ever. Uub, for his part, had grown another inch, but still barely stood past Gohan's waist.

"Alright, let's see." Gohan said as he stepped forward to face the boy. "You're pretty strong, but I'll stick to Super Saiyan 2 for now. How's that sound."

"I don't care." The boy replied. "Just don't get hurt."

"Don't worry about me." The Saiyan replied, slipping his head harshly to the right as he finished, a pink beam zinging past his ear.

Gohan wasted no more time talking and fired toward Uub, his hair alight and his body surrounded in electricity, but found himself unable to close the distance. Uub's elusiveness had improved dramatically, and the boy gave no indication of particular effort as he wove through the air, evading the Saiyan's every attack for several minutes, pestering him with pink rays all the while.

Gohan finally landed and looked up at the human, still elevated in the air, a bored look plastered on his face. "Alright, guess you've outgrown that." The Saiyan laughed, as his hair turned dark again. "I'm gonna get serious now, get ready."

Uub never budged an inch as Gohan's energy grew still. "Let's go." The Saiyan said, and fired off once more.

Piccolo's eyes could scarcely follow Gohan's movements, but in truth the Saiyan was holding back severely. He closed the gap quickly, but started his attack slowly, allowing Uub to block the first few blows, before steadily ramping up the pace, pushing the boy farther and farther toward his wits' end.

Surprisingly, that end was becoming increasingly difficult for Gohan to reach, and he soon found himself grunting slightly with the effort. A long, even exchange ensued, until Gohan finally had enough and, with a harsh " _UH!_ " pressed a full on assault into the boy's chest, culminating in a massive right straight landing clean in Uub's sternum and sending him crashing to the small planet below.

"What's going on out here?!" King Kai yelled, running out of his house at the sound of the commotion. " _Ah_!" he screamed, upon seeing the newly formed crater. "Gohan! You're gonna have to pay for that!"

Gohan paid him little mind, however, as he studied the dust ridden hole from above. He had hit Uub cleanly with the brunt of his strength, but the boy's energy was still alive and well.

" _KAIO-KEN!"_

Before Gohan had registered what was happening, Uub was on him in a full blitz assault. With the momentum against him, it was all the Saiyan could do to protect his head from the attack as the boy, now glowing fiery red, pressed into him, punishing his unprotected body.

A chopping right sent Gohan crashing toward the ground, but he managed to regain his balance before cratering and fired some fifty feet away to create distance. Uub hit the ground just where he had been landed, fired toward him again, and threw a massive overhand right to end the fight.

Rather than back down, Gohan stepped in and threw a swooping left uppercut of his own. Both blows hit their mark with a crash, and sent each fighter staggering backward, disoriented from the impact with their knees shaking beneath them.

Each set their teeth and prepared to charge again, but found themselves staring into a large green palm on either side.

" _Enough!_ " Piccolo snarled. "It's a sparring match! You'll destroy the planet if this goes any farther."

Gohan panted deeply a few times before succumbing and returning to his normal state. "Sorry." He finally said, "Uub's really something."

Uub, however, was having a significantly more difficult time calming himself. His power was steadily declining, but his eyes were alight with primal rage, and his panting was deep and violent.

"Easy…." Piccolo said, practically whispering with his bass voice. "It's over now, calm down…"

Finally, the boy managed to steady his breathing and plopped down in the grass, utterly exhausted.

"You taught him the Kaio-Ken?" Gohan asked in exasperation.

"Don't look at me." The Namekian replied, gesturing toward the beaming blue Kai in the distance.

"I think you two might've created a monster." Gohan said as he wiped fresh blood from his lip.

"You created this monster." Piccolo replied, "I just taught him how to kill."

* * *

Gohan returned to Earth by locking on his wife's energy, a newfound precision he was proud to have mastered. For that reason, he was surprised to find himself on the roof of Capsule Corp with not only his wife, but Bulma, Krillin, and 18 all present.

"Oh. Hey, everybody." Gohan said, his bloodstained undershirt drawing surprised looks from the group. "What's going on?" he asked quietly as Videl rose to greet him.

"It's Trunks's birthday." His wife whispered in his ear, kissing his cheek to hide the message. "Bulma gets lonely with stuff like this."

"Got it." He whispered as he worked his way to the table, pulling up a chair between his wife and Krillin.

Bulma was composed, but somber, and Gohan thought he could tell she had been crying as she sat piddling with a small computer device. He was embarrassed to be so poorly presentable, so he started to pull his shirt back over his head, until Bulma spoke up and stopped him short.

"Gohan." She said, sadness dripping from her voice, but no sign of tears on her face. "You've never lied to me, have you?"

"Well, no, Bulma." He replied softly. "Of course not."

"Then tell me the truth. I've never seen Trunks since he flew off to war that day against Freeza. Is he dead?"

"Bulma…" Krillin interjected. "We told you he lived. He was the hero-"

"I'm asking Gohan!" she barked, silencing Krillin immediately.

Gohan thought for a moment before answering, but did so calmly. "Trunks lived through the battle, even after Beerus came, I'm sure of that. After that, I don't know what happened to him. I don't know where he is."

"I'm going to wish him back anyway." Bulma replied. "I can have Yamcha's boys do anything I say…"

"Bulma," Videl interjected quietly. "He was inside Buu when Gohan killed him. There's nothing Shenron can do even if…"

"I don't care!" She screamed, immediately dousing the room in silence. "Then at least I'll know! I just want to see him again, I don't care what it takes…"

" _WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHHHHH"_

The rest was interrupted by a piercing whine from overhead, as the sky above them seemed to spiral out of control. "Get behind me!" Gohan screamed, stepping forward in front of Bulma and Videl. Krillin and 18 stood side by side, crouched cautiously as they eyed the phenomenon overhead.

A foreign airplane suddenly appeared out of the vortex and crashed down on top of the Capsule Corp roof. Gohan and Krillin sprung up simultaneously, landing on the hood of the aircraft.

"No way." Gohan gasped as he gazed upon the purple haired man, face-down and unconscious atop the control board.

"I'd know him anywhere…" Krillin whispered. "That's Future Trunks."

* * *

Trunks crept quietly through the halls of the castle – steadily, so as not to raise any alarm, until he came to the pivotal point. A forked fulcrum in the hallway leading, from right to left, his quarters, the dining area, or Beerus's chamber. He stopped long enough to check his had, but found it wasn't shaking, as he would've expected. Without another moment's hesitation, he fired down the leftmost hallway, his brow furrowed in determination.

The Saiyan stopped suddenly as he entered the room. A massive bronze bed sat in the middle, the center of the galaxy of mines orbiting around it, every one capable of awakening the monster inside, aside from their massive destructive potential.

Trunks weaved through them seamlessly until he was at Beeru's bedside, the Destroyer completely unprotected in his slumber. "The mighty Destroyer," Trunks thought, "felled by his own hubris."

"Trunks raised his right arm across his body and pressed hard, giving way to a glow light around his broadened hand. With a final heave, the Sayain reached for all his power and brought it down toward the Destroyer's neck.

Trunks's wrist was caught mid stroke by a familiar blue hand, leaving the Saiyan and Whis face to face inches from Beerus's sleeping frame.

"So you defend him now, too?" Trunks dared to whisper in spite of the danger.

"In these quarters, always." Whis replied, staring harshly into Trunks's eyes.

Whis tapped his rod on the ground once, and the two appeared on the lawn outside the castle. "You brought me here to succeed him." Trunks said, his heart now pounding uncontrollably. "You know he's out of control, you should be thrilled to have me to end this now!"

"I brought you here to succeed him if he can be defeated." Whis retorted, Trunks's wrist still firmly in his hand. "That is the way of the world. Surely you don't expect me to condone the murder of sleeping nobility?"

"What difference does it make?!" Trunks yelled, finally ripping his arm free. "I'm here because I'm the only one who can do what it takes, right?! Gohan, Goten, anyone else, they'd let him wake up and fight him head-on, and they'd die! But not me! I'll kill him awake, I'll kill him asleep, I'll kill him any way I can, but I'll kill him! And that's what you want, right?! _RIGHT?!_ "

"You've missed the point entirely." Whis said flatly, staring coldly into Trunks's eyes, now streaming in hot, angry tears. "Beerus has lost any sense of justice, and if that should bring him death, then all the better, but not here. I am bound to protect him on this planet, but even if I were not, what worthy successor would dare stoop to his level of brutality?"

"The one you chose." Trunks replied icily.

"Then I have chosen poorly." Whis hissed.

The two allowed the moment to linger a while, before Trunks finally turned and walked a few paces away. He stopped and looked back over his shoulder at his teacher, his hair blowing in the wind. "I know you're bound to protect him here. You chose me once because I'm the only one willing to do what it takes to be a Destroyer. After I kill him, you'll choose me again."

Whis opened his mouth to protest, but before he could speak Trunks fired out into into space in a streak of light. Whis stood alone on the lawn, his scepter tilted sadly across his body.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Back to the Future

As the water trickled slowly onto his face, Trunks finally began to stir from his slumber. At first he only scrunched his nose, but soon he was attempting to turn ahead, and finally raised a hand to block the stream.

"Ok, stop, he's coming to." Krillin said, motioning for Gohan to stop the pour.

"Krillin?" Trunks asked sleepily. Finally, he looked around his bed and saw the crowd gathered around him. "Gohan! _Mother!_ " He yelled, suddenly sitting bolt upright. "I made it! I'm back in the past!"

"Trunks, what happened?!" Bulma yelled, suddenly grasping him around the shoulders and doing all she could to stay off the bed.

"Errr…" he growled. "Gohan, I need you to get my father! And Goku, if you've revived him! Maybe Piccolo too, if you think he can keep up. How's my ship? I need you all to come with me!"

"Whoa, wait a minute. It's wrecked pretty bad." Gohan replied. "Trunks – I don't know how to say this…"

"What, they're dead?" the purple haired Saiyan asked excitedly, his voice a mixture of panic and anger.

No one said a word, though Bulma withdrew her arms and fell back into her chair in silence. "They are, aren't they? I understand." Trunks said, finally calming himself slightly.

Trunks rose out of bed, stood up to his full height, and walked until he was chest to chest with Gohan. He was shorter than Gohan remembered, the top of his head only coming to eye-level, but he was unmistakably the same warrior who had come to visit years ago. Now into his 30's, time had clearly treated him harshly. His frame had broadened slightly, his hair had darkened to a greyish purple, and a 5 o'clock shadow dotted his weathered face.

Gohan, for his part, was thinner than the one Trunks had known, but his features and voice were exactly as he recalled. The two examined each other in silence for a long moment before Trunks finally turned his attention away.

"Mother," he said, "my ship is the same one I arrived when I first came here. Do you think you can fix it?"

"Well, maybe, at least if Dad helps…" Bulma replied. "But why did you come back? What happened to you?"

"My world is under attack." Trunks said, anger growing in his throat. "He's going to kill every single one of us, and I can't stop him. He's ruthless – kids, entire cities, he doesn't care. He even killed my mother." Trunks's voice never raised beyond a harsh growl, but by the time he stopped speaking he was shaking with rage, angry, hot tears welling in his eyes.

"Buu." Krillin said ominously.

Trunks only shook his head in disgust. "Goku."

* * *

"Move, Goten!" Goku screamed, his voice rasp from shouting instructions for the better part of the day.

And move he did, deftly ducking two crashing overhead blows from his opponents and escaping beneath them. The two combatants – one a thin, green man in a turban, the other a muscular, Herculean like fighter – turned to give chase, only to find themselves already in the throes of a counterattack.

In a quick, three blow combination, Goten hit the green man in the stomach to drop his guard, then the temple to stun him, and finally in the neck, incapacitating him entirely. The larger man rushed to seize the opening, but in a flash, Goten was gone. The Saiyan reappeared directly behind him, through an elbow into the back of his head, and left him lying face down on the ground alongside his ally.

"Alright, alright, that's enough!" The Grand Kai yelled, stepping out onto the arena floor, his long bushy hair streaming behind him. "We've had enough, the boy's too strong, Goku."

"Unreal." Yamcha gawked from the sideline, a fresh bruise on the side of his head, as Tien and Chiaotzu shook their heads, fresh cuts across their bodies as well. "There's hundreds of us and he's been at this for hours, but we're the ones who are worn out!"

"Oh, come on guys…" Goku whined as Goten shadowboxed alone on the arena floor. "I spar with him all the time, but I can't coach him if I'm fighting. I need your help!"

"Goku." The Supreme Kai said as he and Kibito walked up to join the Saiyan and the Grand Kai. "Perhaps they're right. Outnumbered or not, Goten clearly isn't being challenged here."

"Well yeah, but they're the best we've got, Piccolo won't let Uub fight him!"

"Perhaps not." The Supreme Kai said wryly. "Kibito?"

"Goten was thoroughly impressive in the friendly match with Universe Six." Kibito explained. "We reached out to Universe 6 for a closed match with the one called Hit, but we're told he's nowhere to be found. However, we've been exploring potential matchups in other universes as well."

"And?" Goten asked, suddenly interested in the conversation. "Did you find anybody?"

"There is a young Kai in Universe 9." The Supreme Kai said. "He's not nearly ready to govern, but he is a fighting prodigy. He has agreed meet you."

* * *

Bulma reentered the Capsule Corp building, passing 18 as she did.

"You ok?" the cyborg asked.

"Yes." Bulma replied sadly. "Thank you for coming inside. I don't know how he'd react if he saw you."

"Can't say I blame him." 18 said flatly. "What's the problem? I doubt he came back to visit."

"You'll never guess." She said sarcastically as she walked out of the room. "There's going to be a fight."

"So it's really just you two left?" Trunks asked as he, Gohan, and Krillin sped through the air. "Have things really been that bad here?"

"Yeah…" Krillin replied. "Goku never came back after Cell, and we lost Vegeta about ten years after that in the fight with Buu. Then when Freeza came back, we lost nearly everyone else."

"Freeza?" Trunks asked, dumbfounded. "I made sure there was nothing left of him!"

"You'd be surprised what Shenron can do since Dende's grown up." Gohan said almost laughingly. "We're not totally alone though. I have a brother just a little younger than you in this timeline who's incredible, he's just not home right now. Plus we've made some new friends here on Earth that are pretty tough in their own right."

"I see." Trunks said sadly. "So I was one of the casualties in the Freeza fight? I guess that's sort of fitting."

"Not exactly…" Krillin groaned. "Actually, you killed Freeza again."

"So, what, then?"

"Krillin, do you mind flying ahead? You can explain the situation to them before we get there." Gohan requested, to which Krillin obliged with a nod.

"We're estranged at the moment." Gohan said flatly, now alone in the air with Trunks. "No one's sure where you went after the battle with Freeza. I'm sorry, I know you must be curious, but I really don't know any more than that, and the rest of the story doesn't really matter. The bottom line is that you caused us as much trouble as anything else, and then you abandoned us."

"I see." Trunks said quietly. "I'm sorry for any trouble I've caused."

"While we're here, I should say this:" Gohan continued firmly "I know you came back for my dad and Vegeta, but there's nothing I can do to bring them back. I'll help you however I can, but I'm not them. I'm staying in this time – I've got too much at stake here to go risking my life fighting wars that aren't my own."

Trunks searched for something to say, but came up empty, and only hung his head a little lower. "I understand."

Gohan felt a knot of regret in his stomach, but forced himself to ignore it and continued on. "Let's go." He said, "I think I can get you some help."

Alone in the air, the dark haired man was staring through gritted teeth at the empty space in front of him, where moments before had been the Capsule Corp ship. The city below him was demolished, but the purple haired warrior had escaped his grasp yet again.

Finally, he took a deep breath and examined the ring on his hand. "You think you can run," He thought to himself, "but there's nowhere I can't reach you."

By the time the Saiyans touched down, the Wolves had their army gathered in battle formation for the presentation. The group was small today, fewer than 100 men, but some of the Earth's finest warriors were in their number, standing at attention to meet the newcomer.

"Sorry, Gohan." Hammur said as the Saiyans approached. "We've been letting more soldiers off at a time since you got back to Earth. If we'd known Future Trunks was coming, we'd have been at full strength."

"You know me?" Trunks asked in confusion, "I mean – apart from the me in this universe?"

"We studied under the humans who fought with you." Gorra explained. "We know all about you."

"I see." Trunks replied. "Gohan, can we have a minute?" Trunks asked, gesturing his fellow Saiyan to the side. "Gohan, these are strong for humans, but I'm not sure you understand how serious this is. Your father is even stronger in my time than this one, it wouldn't be any use even if I took this whole army back with me!"

" _FUUUUU-SION! HA!"_

Trunks jerked his head to attention at the sudden bursts of energy in the air. Obscured by Gohan's body, he hadn't seen the dance that precipitated the two new forms, but now he was focused intently on them. "Where'd they come from?" he asked, as Gohan stepped away to stand next to Krillin, both grinning in self-satisfaction.

" _FUUUUU-SION! HA!"_

The second round left Trunks's jaw drooping, as a flash of light gave birth to Okami, already cracking his neck in anticipation of combat.

"What's going on?" Trunks asked in shock.

"You wanted some help, see if he's up to your standards!" Gohan goaded, slapping the older Saiyan on the back.

Trunks looked to Okami for reassurance, and received it quickly. "Get ready, Saiyan." The hulking figure said, his echoing voice taking Trunks aback. "We have a score to settle."

"Better listen to him!" Krillin taunted.

"You got it!" Trunks yelled, and flexed his arm to his side as his hair shot gold. To Gohan's surprise, his hair shot bolt upright, and lightning began to ignite across his body.

"Super Saiyan 2," Gohan noted, "He's gotten stronger."

"I'm ready." Trunks said, suddenly stern-faced.

On cue, Okami thrust out his hand and spiked his energy around him. "Kikoho." He said sternly, emitting a massive wall of energy from his open palm.

Caught off guard by the unorthodox opening attack, it was all Trunks could do to cover his face before the wave hit him. When it did, he was immediately swept off his feet and sent flying through the air, wildly out of control.

Trunks managed to curl upright before he hit the ground and landed on a knee, but no sooner had he steadied himself than he was forced to leap back into the air, as an explosion of energy erupted where he had been seated only a moment before. He had scarcely caught his bearings when Okami reached him in the air, greeting him with a massive swing of his right arm. Trunks blocked the blow, but the force was too great for him to keep his balance, sending him spiraling through the air again.

* * *

"Where are you?" The dark haired man whispered quietly, his eyes now closed as he searched desperately for his opponent's energy, his right hand trembling violently as the ring warmed. "I can feel your energy climbing. You can't hide from me."

* * *

Trunks landed and kicked himself out of the dirt and back at the pursuing Okami, launching a desperate overhand haymaker that nearly landed, but passed harmlessly through an afterimage instead. Before he could adjust, Okami, knee drove into the nape of his neck and planted him in the ground in a billow of dust. The two froze there for a moment, and then relaxed, content to end the match.

"See what I mean?" Gohan asked as he walked to where Trunks lay and extended a hand to help him up. "Okami's a human, but he's pretty tough."

"I'm not sure what's going on," Trunks said, still clearly confused at Okami's appearance, "but I'm not in a position to be picky. I actually think you might be able to match my timeline's Goku, with my help we should be able to beat him!"

Okami looked at Gohan with trepidation, but the Saiyan only patted his own chest. "I'll watch the place while you're away." He said reassuringly.

Satisfied, Okami nodded resolutely at Trunks. "Earth is my home to protect in any time. I will go with you."

The two reached out their right arms and grasped one another by the forearm in companionship, and for the first time since his arrival, Trunks allowed himself to smile.

Gohan looked on approvingly until he felt a sudden mass of energy in his temple. He jerked his head upward to see a wide ripple in the sky, like a wormhole of dark energy tearing a seam through space.

"Look out!" Gohan yelled, squaring to the mass as it gave birth to a dark clad figure.

"He's coming…" Trunks said through gritted teeth, his body shaking violently.

Finally, the wormhole vanished and the sky cleared, leaving only a smiling, dark clad man in it's place.

"That's him." Trunks continued, his energy now climbing at an alarming rate. "That's Goku."

The dark clad man hung in the air for a long minute, a devious smile plastered on his face before finally pointing at Trunks with his ringed finger. "I found you." He taunted. "You're a good hider, but I found you." A deep inhale was Trunks's only response.

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Lighting exploded across Trunks's form as he fired off the ground at the intruder. Caught off guard, the stranger had scarcely raised his guard when Trunks made impact, launching into a full blitz assault.

Trunks was unable to break the guard, but did manage to push the newcomer back for a long while. He pressed on as long as he could, but with the effects of his sparring match still lingering, soon felt his stamina running low. With one last thrust he pushed the man away, raised his arms high over his head, and screamed "Maskenoooooo— _HAAAA!"_

Trunks panted deeply and quickly descended to Earth, fully aware the attack would not be enough to win. A moment later his belief was confirmed, as the smoke gave way to the dark figure once again, laughing quietly.

"Nice to see you, too." The man taunted, a fresh tear in the shoulder of his shirt. For the first time he examined the crowd around him, and burst into laughter.

"I remember you!" he yelled at the group. "See this?" he asked, lifting his shirt to reveal a massive burn along his left side, a mass of flesh missing between his ribs and pelvis. "I've got you to thank for that one, Gohan."

Gohan's lip curled angrily, but before he could make a move, the stranger was sent sprawling by a loud "KIKOHO!" from Okami.

"Let me have this fight." Okami asked as he steadied himself. "I only have so much time left." Gohan, unsure of how to respond, held his ground as Okami blasted off after the stranger.

Okami overtook the stranger in the air and launched into an assault, but found himself unable to overwhelm his opponent. The two traded evenly for a long while, unable to break the stalemate, until a screaming blast from Okami's mouth briefly brushed the intruder away.

The man retaliated quickly, however, slashing through the smoke with a flattened hand glowing lightly with clear energy. Okami fell into a backward fighting position, doing all he could to protect himself from the blade.

In the struggle that followed, the stranger soon landed a clean cut on the human's thigh, drawing blood and causing Okami to momentarily break his form. Desperate to break the struggle, Okami blasted the man away with both hands, and hit the ground, heavily favoring his right leg.

Feeling his energy and time running low, Okami gathered himself again, threw his right and upward in an eagle claw formation, and sighted the stranger, now barreling down at him out of the sky.

" _KIKOHO!_ "

This time, he human pressed with all he worth as he fired the blast into the charging stranger. The blow hit it's mark some ten yards from where it had been fired, and the stranger, caught off guard once again, was once more sent spiraling into the distance.

Okami hit the ground on his good leg, took four deep breaths, and dispersed into four smaller humans, each with badly wounded left quadriceps.

The stranger finally landed some three miles away against a rock formation. His face was burned badly, but to his delight he found the pain subsiding quickly, and his strength, while lower than it had been, still significantly higher than anything he felt in the distance.

"He's as impressive as I remember." The man said to himself as he peeled his body out of the rock. "But he's finished now. That just leaves one more."

"Come on…." Hammur growled into the distance.

"Easy, guys." Krillin said calmly, as he and the Saiyans landed around the men. "Gohan can take it from here."

"Right." Gohan responded, nodding his head resolutely.

Before any further interaction could take place, the group was forced to jump clear of a massive explosion at their feet. Gohan gritted his teeth and looked into the sky to find the dark clad man smiling deviously down at him, battered but very much alive.

"Your fight's with me from here on out." Gohan announced.

"I knew it would be." The man responded.

The two fired from their stances without another word and clashed together in the air, unfurling a long series of blows and counters. Only a short moment later, however, the stranger began to give ground.

"Gohan's better…" Krillin mumbled to himself.

No sooner had he issued the words then Gohan sent the stranger crashing to the ground below with a clasped overhead blow. The man was quick to fire back into the air, but was clearly showing his damage.

"It's not even close." Naken said in awe.

The man reentered the fight at once, only to find himself the subject of a pummeling as Gohan began to dominate the fight. With lighting precision the Earthling picked him apart, bloodying his nose and working his left eye until it threatened to swell closed.

Mercifully, Gohan pulled off the attack, breathing heavily but fully composed, and with nothing but the sweat on his brow to indicate he'd been fighting.

"Who are you?" Gohan growled. "You might look like my father, but you can't fool me."

Thankful for the break in action, the man only grimaced back at him and breathed heavily, until his attention was suddenly drawn to his right hand. The ring he was wearing began to glow, and the man began chuckling as it did.

"You'll know me soon enough." He taunted, "I'll teach you all to know your place before you die."

The wormhole the man had appeared from suddenly emerged behind him again, momentarily darkening the sky at it did. Gohan fired forward to give chase, but was far too slow. Long before he reached his mark, the hole and the man each disappeared from sight, leaving nothing to mark their stay.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Past, Future, and Parallel

Gohan breathed several angry breaths through gritted teeth before he allowed himself to descend back to earth. "I'm sorry." He said upon landing, wiping the sweat off his brow with his sleeve. "I should've finished him when I had the chance."

"It's alright." Trunks responded, visibly shaken from the exchange. "This is why I came back. Gohan, I appreciate you introducing me to your friends, but now I hope you understand. This new Goku gets stronger every time I face him, we have to end him quickly before he gets too far out of hand!"

"Trunks," Gohan responded cautiously, "I'll always fight with you here, but this is my home. If my father was alive-"

"I didn't come here for your father!" Trunks suddenly burst, startling Gohan in the process. "Or mine either! Or for your friends or anybody else, I came here for you!" Trunks managed to calm himself, but the fire never left his eyes. "I've heard all the stories, but my time, this time, it doesn't matter – you're the only hero I've ever known. Please….come fight with me."

Gohan only drooped his head slightly, his brow furrowed harshly, until he saw Trunks hit his hands and knees below him.

"Please…" he pleaded, "I can't do this alone…."

"Trunks…" he whispered, "…who would protect my home?"

"We will." Hammur interjected.

"You heard him," Gohan replied, "Before long he'll be too strong for Okami. Besides, you had your chance today and you couldn't finish him in time. Why would the next be any different?"

"You'll kill him before he gets that strong." Gorra returned. "And don't worry about this time. We agreed if we met anyone new we couldn't finish, we'd accept your gift."

"Guys, you don't have to do this-"

"We do." Nein interrupted. "His world matters too, but if we can't protect our own, we're useless. It has to be done."

"You're sure?" Gohan asked. The slow nod of Naken's head was his only response.

* * *

"Are you ready, Goten?" Kibito asked, stretching out a forearm to the shorter man.

"Always." The Saiyan replied, a patchy stubble dotting his face as he latched onto the Kai's arm. The Supreme Kai and his Protector did likewise, and in a flash the group was gone.

When they reappeared, they stood on a floating circular platform with 11 aisles reaching toward it, each leading to a separate bluish portal. "Where are we?" Goten asked in wonder.

"This is the Central Axis." The Supreme Kai explained. "There are 12 different entrances between our universe and Universe 6, including this one, but the other 10 portals can only be reached from this location. Since we are going to Universe 9, we must stop here."

"Shall I lead the way?" Kibito asked, ushering the group to a portal back and to the right of them.

"Of course." The Supreme Kai responded, as the group began walking, following his direction.

The group passed through the portal and reappeared in an identical location on the other side, causing the two Sons to look at each other in bewilderment.

"The Universe 9 Central Axis." Kibito explained, offering his arm again. "If you please." The group took hold, and again, they were gone.

* * *

"Everybody ready?" Hammur asked. The remaining three nodded in agreement, none offering so much as a quivered lip as they took their positions. "Then here we go. FUSION! HAAAAAA!"

The two pairs split, Nein and Naken to the left, Hammur and Gorra to the right, leaving their fused combinations in their place. The two nodded in unison at one another, and fastened on their earrings.

Instinctively, Trunks, Gohan, and Krillin dropped into their stances as the two bodies met, an eruption of white light surrounding them as they did.

The Saiyans looked on in awe as the new form reemerged from the light. He was taller than before by nearly half a foot, but leaner, and his complexion had darkened significantly, until his skin was a reddish brown. Gone were his gaudy shoulder pads, replaced by a slick blue tunic over an orange undershirt, and his hair, though as long and dark as before, hung loose and bushy down his back to the orange sash around his waist. Above each of his eyebrows was a column of incense marks, and between them was a third eye, looking down at his fists slowly opening and closing as his other two remained shut tight.

"Welcome back, Okami." Krillin said uneasily. "I guess you're here to stay this time."

"I am not Okami." The man replied, the echo in his voice gone, but deeper than before. "Okami is gone, never to return. I am only the lone wolf."

Okami pulled his arms in tight and allowed his power to swell momentarily, a snarled lip forming as he did. "Now the Earth is safe." He growled to himself. Then, without so much as a wave, he took to the sky and disappeared from sight.

"'The lone wolf'…" Krillin pondered aloud. "Yamcha named the last one; I think I'll call this one Akela."

Gohan and Trunks both looked at him inquisitively. "What?" he replied, "You guys didn't read the Jungle Book?"

"Gohan, _now_ will you come back with me to my time?" Trunks asked excitedly. "'Akela' may be strong, but the longer we stay here, the stronger Black Goku becomes. We have to leave as soon as my mother readies the ship."

Gohan thought a long moment; about his wife, his mother, his friends…"I'll go." He finally said. "If he comes here, Akela should be able to hold him off until we catch up. Unless he's already grown stronger than me... _Ah!_ Even then, we still have a better chance in your time…"

"So you will!" Trunks exclaimed.

"Hold on." Gohan replied, holding up a palm slightly for emphasis. "There's no reason to take unnecessary risk. If we're going, we're bringing Goten with us."

* * *

Kibito's group reappeared beneath a gazebo; the only sound around them the soft whisk of the eastern wind, carrying pinkish pedals across the white stone walkway before them. "Let's not keep them waiting." The Supreme Kai ordered, and led the party down the path toward the arching doorway ahead of them.

Upon passing through and rounding a soft corner to their left, the group found themselves in an open courtyard. To their right was a garden, with ivy growing softly around the edges of a waist-high fence, with a flat, earthen center left unperturbed by the shrubbery. To their left was a short table, an old Kai seated quietly, his back turned away from them.

" _Gowasu!_ " The Supreme Kai yelled, momentarily breaking his usual calm demeanor and dashing toward the old man, embracing him even before he had fully turned around.

" _Oh!_ " the old Kai spat. "And Kibito! So good to see you…how long has it been?"

"Far too long." Kibito replied warmly.

"Well," the elder continued, regaining his composure as the younger Kai finally pulled away from him. "I hear whispers that your universe is in distress. Is this so?"

"I'm afraid so." The younger Kai replied. "Our Destroyer has set his sights on a planet I intend to survive. I've brought this boy with me to prepare for that dispute."

Goten's insulted reaction gave the Kai all he needed to retract his statement.

"Excuse me." He said politely, "I've brought this _young man_ along to further hone his skills, should they become necessary."

"I see…" the old Kai pondered aloud. "Warring with a Destroyer is treacherous indeed, Shen; though not wholly without precedent. I recall one such incident in a fellow universe when I was a young Kai…"

"How'd it go?!" Goku burst in excitedly.

"The universe was destroyed, save for it's Destroyer and Supreme Kai." Gowasu answered dryly, much to Goku's chagrin. "The present Universe 11 has regrown in its place. All the same, that has little to do with you."

No sooner had he finished talking than another Kai appeared across the courtyard, carrying a tray in his hands. The Kai was young, though not a child, and roughly Goku's height.

"Ah, Zamasu." Gowasu greeted. "Thank you for the tea. Please, welcome our guests."

"Welcome." The young Kai said, bowing his head slightly. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Kibito and Shen smiled warmly and bowed their heads in reply. Goten and Goku hesitated a moment, exchanging uneasy glances, before following suit.

"Now, about our arrangement." Gowasu continued. "Zamasu will be the sparring partner for your warrior. This courtyard should serve as well as any arena, provided you stay inside it, though I would request you refrain from blasting your energy, so as not to destroy my shrubbery."

"Of course." The Supreme Kai responded. "Goten, are you ready to begin?"

"Yeah…" Goten replied, staring directly into Zamasu's eyes. The young Kai stared back with a soft smile on his face for a moment, then turned and walked to the center of the courtyard, the Saiyan following behind him.

Finally the pair stopped and stared across at one another for a long moment, a gentle breeze blowing lightly in their hair. The stillness was finally broken, when Zamasu raised his guard and spoke: "When you're ready, human."

* * *

Goten required no further cue and lurched forward and throwing a stiff right straight directly at the Kai's temple. Zamasu, shocked by the sudden outburst of speed, never moved his feet, and only just managed to raise his left forearm to block the blow. The two hung there for a fraction of a second, and then flew into a furious exchange.

Zamasu held pace well, but was unable to match Goten's pressure, and quickly began to give ground. Seeing he had the advantage, Goten began to mix in feints and counters, and soon found he was able to force Zamasu to choose which blows to defend. With the Kai opting to preserve his skull, Goten found his open torso and began to punish him severely with short hooks and high knees.

Zamasu's core was strong, so he held through the first few blows, but soon found the pain too much to bear. Still, he refused to drop his guard, well aware of what a blow to the head against an opponent of this caliber would mean. Quickly weighing his options, Zamasu decided to gamble rather than be picked apart and spun harshly to his left, his right elbow poised to strike the Saiyan in the temple when he completed the revolution.

Zamasu swung wildly, but to his horror, struck only the air, the Saiyan having completely disappeared from sight. A split second later he looked up to see the Saiyan bearing down on him from above, his right fist already drawn back to deliver the decisive blow. Without time to raise his guard in defense, the Kai shouted, a rush of purple light erupting from his open mouth as he did, totally engulfing the human.

"Hey!" Goku yelled from the entryway as his son disappeared into the light.

Zamasu smiled lightly to himself for a split second, but a chilling blow to the center of his stomach quickly erased his grin. Unable to breathe, the Kai doubled over Goten's right fist, still planted below his ribs. The Saiyan stood still beside him, two fingers on his left hand drawn to his forehead, and the tips of his hair singed and smoking lightly, as the Kai leaned loosely against his fist. A moment later, Zamasu gave way to the pain, and lost consciousness.

Goten caught Goku's eye and nodded lightly, and his father did likewise.

* * *

"Hey, Old Kai." Gohan said, as he appeared suddenly on the Kai's planet. "Where is everybody? You were the only piece of energy I could find to get here. Wasn't easy."

"Very funny." The Old Kai replied, momentarily looking up from the magazine he was reading. "They've gone to another universe so your brother can fight a Kai. I'm sure they won't be too long."

"Wait, what?" Gohan asked.

"Oh, look. Here they are now." The Old Kai responded lazily. As he predicted, the foursome suddenly appeared between he and Gohan, an uneasy tension immediately apparent within the group.

"So," Gohan began, "how'd it go."

"Well enough." The Supreme Kai replied curtly. "What can we do for you? We're quite busy, I'm afraid."

"I'm here on business, I assure you." Gohan replied defensively, before turning his attention to his father. "Future Trunks is back on Earth. There's a guy in the future who looks a lot like you tearing the place apart. He's strong."

"And how would you know that?" The Supreme Kai interjected.

"Because I just fought him." Gohan replied sharply, finally drawing earnest attention from the Kai. "Somehow he's able to travel between timelines. I can take him, but if Trunks is right, he's getting stronger all the time. I'm going to go back to the past with Trunks to finish him off."

After a long moment of silence, the Supreme Kai finally spoke up again. "I'll allow it. I trust your judgment if you think it's necessary, but don't linger. Finish this task and return immediately."

"I'm not here for your permission, I'm here for Goten." Gohan snapped back. "I don't know what I'm about to walk into over there, so I need someone who can give me some real help. Besides, you need to train him, right? This is a great opportunity!"

"Absolutely not!" The Kai shouted back, stepping aggressively toward the Saiyan. Gohan glowered back in the first fit of animosity the two had ever shared. "Goten just took a fight with another universe's Kai too far and Beerus is getting closer every day, he's staying here and preparing!"

"He shot a blast at me!" Goten protested, but no one seemed to notice.

"I'm talking about saving a universe! _Your_ universe!" Gohan yelled back. "You said you trusted me, and I'm telling you if we don't finish this guy now, he's going to kill everybody in that universe and then come here to do the same. You've got more pressing problems than Beerus!"

"There is no problem more pressing than Beerus!" the Kai shot back. "He came into my universe and you pushed him back, thank you, and now he is gone and no longer my concern! I am not sending the one hope of my universe into a live fight in another timeline where he could get trapped or killed! Give chase if you wish, but Goten stays here, with his father and me, to prepare to save _our_ universe, because you weren't interested in putting in the work to do it yourself!"

Taken aback, Gohan declined to escalate the situation any further with the Kai. "Goten?" he asked calmly.

"Beerus is coming…" Goten said hesitantly. "And something was off about that Kai I just fought…there's a lot going on here, Gohan."

"Fine." Gohan spat, raising to fingers to his brow. "Good luck against Beerus, I'll try to make sure you've got a universe left to save."

* * *

"Something's off." Piccolo said flatly as he, Gohan, and King Kai all watched Uub oscillate between various strengths of the Kaio-ken, like a musician practicing his scales. "The Supreme Kai turning you down is one thing, but he's not the type to resort to personal attacks. Something happened in that sparring match."

"Who knows?" Gohan replied in exasperation. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to lend me Uub for a while?"

"Put him in a live fight in another timeline? No, I don't suppose I would." Piccolo replied dryly.

"I'll see what I can find out about this other Kai." King Kai offered. "You can handle this problem yourself, Gohan. Leave the home front to us."

"…Sure. Thank you both." Gohan finally replied, and then left once more for Earth.

* * *

Gohan found Trunks in a gravity training room inside Capsule Corp, sweating profusely in the 300G environment. Gohan stepped inside, walked to the control board without ever breaking stride under the pressure, and shut off the power.

"No luck." He told the hard-breathing elder Saiyan. It's just you and me; as soon as Bulma finishes the ship, we're going to the past."

Traumatized as he was, the thought of going off to battle with Gohan again caused Trunks to break a smile. "Ready when you are, Master."


End file.
